So last night i had a well earned night off work. Yes, no cooking I thought, Maybe go out for a meal or get a takeaway with a nice glass of wine and enjoy the Indian summer evening we were having.
But no. The girlfriend had other ideas and really wanted me to cook us a nice dinner. So eventually I was persuaded and made the trip to town to get the ingredients. I had decided to go fish as it was such a nice evening.
Unfortunately I had arrived a little to late and the Fish monger in the market had just cleared up. So had to make the walk to the supermarket. I was undecided at this point what I was going to cook. But when I got to the fish counter there was all your normal supermarket mass produced fish. You know the type. The unsustainable types. Your Cods, Seabass and Salmon. But i noticed out of the corner of my eye some reduced fish, now being a chef im always on the lookout for a bargain.
They were selling Red Tilapia for just £2 a fillet, Bargain!! This fish is quite often on offer as a lot of people do not know what to do with it when it comes to cooking however it is a very simple fish to cook as ill explain later. I honestly feel more people should use these uncommon types of fish a lot more rather than always plumping for the Seabass and Cod type of fish
I rang the girlfriend and asked her if that was ok, Unfortunately she had never heard of Red Tilapia. So i ran the risk and got them anyway, Now for anyone that doesn't know Tilapia is a white meaty fish somewhere between the taste of Cod and Seabass and goes well with a variety of flavours. So I went down to the salad section i had Decided to serve it with Wilted spinach and a fresh, vibrant, rustic tomato and white wine sauce and a lemon and paprika dressing.
I got all the ingredients home along with a lovely bottle of Sauvignon and put everything in the fridge until she returned home from work
Below is the recipe i used and it is guaranteed to be a success, I give you my word.
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 Fillet of Tilapia per portion
200g tin chopped tomatoes
12 Cherry tomatoes
1 Clove of Garlic
1/2 red onion
glass white wine
500g spinach
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of Paprika
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Make sure your fish is at room temperature
- To make the dressing. Get your juice of one lemon and put into a bowl add the paprika and oil and oil and mix to form the dressing
- To make the Sauce Thinly dice your red onion and garlic and add to a hot pan with a little oil. Slice your tomatoes in half and add to the mix.
- After a 5 minutes add your Tin of Chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil stirring every so often
- Now add the glass of white wine and reduce down for ten minutes.
- Get a roasting tray and add your spinach (It will look like a lot but will wilt down) Add a little butter and Salt and Pepper and Roast on a low heat of about 180 for upto ten minutes or until the spinach has wilted.
- Get a frying pan on the stove and add another butter to coat the base of the pan add a little oil to stop the butter burning Season the fish and prepare to add to the pan
- Once the pan is upto temperature add the fillets press gently down to stop curling at the edges and cook for 5 minutes until the fish is 3/4 cooked.
- Now turn the fish and do the same on the other side for a couple of minutes after it has been turned over drizzle a little of the dressing over the fish so it can soak through whilst cooking
- Once the fish is cooked Get your Spinach and tomato sauce and put on a plate and place the fish on top with a drizzle of the lemon and paprika dressing over the top.