Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Eat more fish!


I have a bag in the freezer of individually-frozen tilapia fillets and I've been eating lots of fish lately.  It's healthy protein, low in fat, super fast and easy, and takes to a wide array of cooking techniques, flavors, and ethnic themes.  This recipe calls for mahi-mahi or red snapper, but it tastes fine with tilapia too.  And it's gluten-free, for those of you with gluten intolerance issues.  Edited to add a second recipe (below.)
Fish with Apple-Pear Chutney
4 mahi-mahi fillets (about 4 ounces each; may substitute sustainable red snapper fillets)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (may substitute canola oil)
1 Bosc pear, peeled, cored and cut in 1/2-inch dice
1 small, firm apple (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored and cut in 1/2-inch slices
1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
1 medium clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For the fish: Use paper towels to pat the fish fillets dry. Combine the chili powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Press the mixture onto both sides of the fillets.

For the chutney: Heat the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the pear and apple (about 1 3/4 cups total), onion and garlic; cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has slightly softened.

Add the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ginger, stirring to combine. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the chutney has darkened in color and is fragrant; season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and let stand while you cook the fish.

Heat the oil in a separate large skillet (preferably not cast-iron) over medium-high heat. Add the mahi-mahi fillets and cook for 8 to 10 minutes total (turning halfway through) or until the fish is just barely opaque when cut at the thickest point. The outside should be browned with caramelized spices.

Divide among individual plates; serve with a few tablespoons of the chutney alongside.

Five Spice Tilapia Salad
serves 4
 
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tilapia fillets
1 1/2 tablespoons Chinese five-spice powder, or as needed
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 (8 ounce) package baby spinach leaves
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
1 tomato, diced
1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced
2 tablespoons Asian-style ginger-soy salad dressing
1 1/2 tablespoons toasted almonds, chopped
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle both sides of the tilapia fillets with Chinese five-spice powder, salt, and black pepper; cook tilapia fillets until lightly browned and the flesh is white and opaque, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and coarsely chop into 2" pieces.

Place the spinach leaves into a large salad bowl, and top with the orange bell pepper, grapefruit, tomato, and avocado. Drizzle the salad with the Asian-style dressing, sprinkle with almonds, and top with the cooked fish.

3 comments:

HomeImprovementNinja said...

i may try this. I have a bag full of tilapia filets in the freezer. i tried it once and wasn't happy with the flavor (turns out you can't eat it plain, like salmon).

If you can't redeem tilapia's reputation, i'm feeding the rest of it to my paleo beagle.

Georgette said...

OK-- tilapia is like a blank canvas. You have to throw color on it!

Usually when I'm in a rush, I just toss some adobo or fajita seasoning on it, maybe a little cayenne, and bake it in the toaster oven (I don't even thaw it-- just toss it in frozen for about hmm maybe 10 min at 400 degrees?)

Last night I actually made red beans and rice with lots of garlic and bell pepper, and threw some paprika and garlic salt on the fish.

Another easy one is fish tacos-- I pan fry the fish with fajita seasoning (maybe 1/2 tsp olive oil) and cayenne-- then roll it up in low carb tortillas with guacamole, mango pico de gallo, shredded broccoli slaw, and a squeeze of lime.

DO NOT FEED TILAPIA TO YOUR DOG-- geez, there's so much you can do with it for you!!!

Megan said...

That chutney recipe looks baller. Must try.