Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Go Fish!

"Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, then it is disgusting."
Dave Barry

Totally awesome Tuesday, dear Kitschies.  Monday has come and gone (thankfully) and now we can move on to the rest of the week.  Nothing exciting or new to report in my neck of the 'hood.  Oh!  We finally had a thunderstorm last night.  Not a whole lot of thunder, but we did get a bit of rain.  It made the morning cool, which is nice.

I love trying new recipes.  I do not love fish.  Anybody who knows me will tell you this.  But, the hubs and the two boys like fish, so being a good wifey/mommy, I make it from time to time.  I make an awesome salmon on the grill!  We had some frozen Tilapia fillets in the freezer so I went on a hunt for a good recipe.  Usually when I make fish, I make chicken with the same ingredients for myself.  I don't mind the smell of most fish, but I'm just not down with the taste.  Kinda strange coming from a California girl.  LOL
4 (4 oz) Talapia fillets
salt & pepper to taste
4 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, pressed
4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup white wine

Pre-heat grill for medium-high heat.

Place the Tilapia fillets side by side on a large piece of aluminum foil. Season each one with salt and pepper. Place one tablespoon of butter on top of each piece of fish, and sprinkle garlic, basil and tomato. Pour the wine over everything. Fold foil up around fish, and seal into a packet. Place packet on a cookie sheet for ease in transportation to and from the grill. 

Place foil packet on the preheated grill, and cook for 15 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Open the packet carefully so as not to get burned from the steam, and serve. 

NOTES:  I had a hard time keeping the wine in the little packets, so I double wrapped each fillet.  I used minced garlic instead of pressed - if you use pressed, it would probably give a more garlic-y flavor.  I didn't have fresh basil or a whole tomato so I used dried basil (however much looked like enough) and a can of diced tomatoes, divided evenly among the 4 packets.  I really liked this on my chicken.

BONUS RECIPE

2 (10 oz) bags pre-washed fresh spinach
2 Tbsp garlic, minced
5 Tbsp butter 
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Rinse the spinach and place the leaves into a microwavable serving dish. Add the butter, garlic and lemon juice. Cover with plastic wrap. Steam in the microwave until the butter is melted and spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and toss to distribute seasoning before serving. 

NOTES:  Again, I didn't have the fresh ingredients so I used frozen chopped spinach.  I liked the flavor of this, but the consistency was a little off.  I think it could've cooked for a bit longer.  I halved this recipe because I knew it wouldn't be that big a hit with the hubs and the boys (I was right).  

The usual suspects

Ready for the BBQ  (Funny story: My coworker came up behind me when I was loading this picture and she said it looked like a person climbing on to an iceberg.  LOL  I guess it kinda does.)

I can't remember if this is chicken or fish.  Either way, it was good!

 Our healthy, (mostly) low fat dinner

The hubs said if I ever want to leave him, I won't have to tell him, I'd just have to make a dinner out of nothing but the things he hates.  LOL  Good to know.  So...here's my question to you:  Is there a food that you just will NOT eat?  Has there been something you didn't like but somebody made it different and now you're a convert? 

Listening to: Loving You is Easy by Sarah McLachlan

11 comments:

Unknown said...

haaaaha, i love that quote at the beginning!

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

You could have knocked me over with a feather! You cooking fish?!? Very nice of you to fix it for the family, sort of like me making corned beef and cabbage once a year. I absolutely do not like liver or beets! I didn't think I liked bell peppers until I tried the red, orange, and yellow ones - I still think the green ones are too bitter. We might try your recipe, I'm not too sure about the tomatoes though.

shortmama said...

I love fish!

I cant really think of anything I wont at least try!

Jen said...

I hate fish too, so we're in the same "boat" Pun intended! The smell and the taste are a complete turn off. And I'm actually severely allergic to shellfish. So, yeah, fish of any kind is a no no!

Liz (iceomatic's nails) said...

This looks really good! I think I have some frozen tilapia too. Yum...

Recalcitrant Nails said...

I love salmon and salmon cakes and some good Cod, but I'm a picky fish eater....always have been. However, a good catfish fry with family seems to cure me of my pickyness (at least in the moment). LOL

Megan Harmeyer said...

@ Becky - I thought it was fitting for this post.

@ Linda - I cook it about once a month. I make a salmon that Neil really likes (and Nate eats, too).

@ Amanda - I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to food, but I won't do fish.

@ Jen - LOL Love the pun. :)

@ Liz - DO IT!! LOL

@ Chris - Pretty much any food is better when shared with family.

Robyn said...

I used to be very fussy but I'm much better now. For example, in the last few months I've been converted to more fish, scampi, pate, some mushrooms and some curries. One thing I just won't eat, though, is olives. BLURGH. I've never liked them and my friend literally sat on me and force fed me some which really, really didn't help. I don't think I could eat kidney, or scallops - I hate, hate, hate the smell of them, it makes me feel sick!

Wendi_ThroatPunch said...

YOU MADE TILAPIA!??!?!!? RIGHT ON!

Stephanie Merlin said...

This looks delicious. I don't dislike fish, but I don't jump for joy for it either. I find it rather bland, but your recipe looks so good. I definitely need to try this. I absolutely hate raw onions. Blech. I love them cooked, but I have yet to try something where they're raw that I liked. Maybe someday...

SilhouetteScreams said...

Your blog is making me so hungry right now O_O and I LOVE fish but I hardly ever have it. :(