This is one of the first recipes I ever used with tilapia. Orginally, it was something I saw on Martha Stewart. But you know how Martha is. Her version calls for Chilean sea bass, or rather - the ‘very best Chilean sea bass’. Cut to me sitting on my Ikea sofa with a leaky roof and two under two, and well- fancy fish wasn’t exactly in the budget. Even if I’d been flush with cash, a special trip to the fish market wouldn’t have been a priority between co-op preschool shifts and hundreds of diapers a week. I needed a good, inexpensive substitute that I could find at the local grocery store.
Hello tilapia!
Mediterranean Tilapia
Ingredients:
- 4 5-7 oz. fresh tilapia fillets (I like Regal Springs tilapia found at Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Marsh Food stores and Jewel grocery stores.)
- 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes*
- 1/2 - 1 cup olives - any kind you like - greek, black, green, etc.
- ¼ cup capers
- 2-3 cloves crushed garlic (or like 20, whatever you like!)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions:
- Cut the tomatoes and olives in half and cook with garlic, capers and olive oil for 5 minutes on medium heat - until tomatoes start to soften.
- Add fish and cover, cooking for 5 more minutes until fish flakes with a fork.
How easy is that? (The original recipe called for stove top cooking, followed by a stint in the oven. Bah! You can do it all in the skillet.) This dish is great with couscous to sop up the sauce.
*The cherry tomatoes on the vine have amazing flavor for this dish. However, they’re pricey so I usually opt for the less expensive clam shell pack of grape tomatoes. If you grow your own - even better!
Image Credit: david.nikonvscanon, Flickr
Tags: cooking fish, eating fish, eating fish at home, fish recipe, fish recipes, Tilapia, tilapia recipe, Tilapia recipes
[...] These days it’s all about flavor Intensities. The idea is to balance the intensity level of flavors in the food and the wine. That’s why lighter fish like tilapia may often go well with lighter white wines, but if prepared in a spicy red sauce, you might opt for a red. I drink red with Mediterranean Tilapia. [...]