Friday, December 10, 2010

easiest delicious baked tilapia!


this is delicious, light enough but still filling, and i love the flavors here.

easiest baked tilapia
2 tilapia filets (or however many you want to cook and will fit in you dish)
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
2 small carrots, roughly chopped
1 c frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 c frozen green beans (sub. brussels sprouts or pretty much anything you want)
1 jalapeno pepper, halved, ribs and seeds removed (if cooking for more, 1/2 pepper per filet)
juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp butter, divided
oil/nonstick spray

preheat oven to 350F.  either spray baking dish or or rub with just enough oil to lightly coat and keep from sticking
mix and spread veggies in dish, season with s&p.  be sure to place jalapeno halves so that they will be centered under filets
season filets with s&p to taste (i like enough salt and plenty of pepper)
layer filets on jalapeno slices.
juice lime over the whole dish.  slice 2 tbsp of butter in half, set two halves on each filet
cover dish semi-loosely with foil, bake for 30 min., then uncover, divide last tbsp butter between two filets, and set to broil for another 15 to 20 minutes.

i served mine sprinkled with a bit of grated parmesan cheese and some cilantro, 'cause that's how i like it.  : )

and here's the best part...  (drumroll, please)

if you up the baking time to about 45 min to an hour, you can put everything in frozen!  that's right, no thawing whatsoever!  just put it in, leave it alone, and enjoy when it's done!

again, you can substitue whatever veggies you have around, but i especially liked the way the carrots added a sweetness and some great texture to the soft (and not the least bit dry, i might add) tilapia.  and for those wary of the peppers, i promise, for once i didn't make something spicy.  the jalapenos under the filet just releases a really nice aroma and you get a lot more of the green, pepper flavor than anything hot.  it's all about some more depth of flavor.  and you could use lemon juice or i might even try grapefruit if you're into it, but definitely don't skip the fresh citrus!  seriously, this one is too easy and too delicious not to try.  this recipe was enough for me, but i eat a lot -- haha! -- but could probably serve two, especially with a nice crusty bread.  and really, that means it's only 1 1/2 tbsp butter per serving for the whole meal.  and lemme tell you how easy cleanup is...

1 comment:

  1. Yum, sounds great Preston...er..."Chef"...I'm just saying'.....

    ReplyDelete