Adventures in Cooking

I’ve been making a concerted effort to cook more and take-out/delivery less. It’s healthier and more economical, not to mention tastier, to do so. I’ve decided to start blogging a bit about my adventures in cooking as well. A special thanks to E for helping me get my ass in gear about doing so.

Tonight I decided to make a fairly quick and simple dinner. With that in mind I picked up some Tilapia and made some rice and a nice arugula salad with it. It was really good.

The rice was pretty straightforward, I made is with some Goya Sazon. The salad was just arugula with some Feta cheese and a red wine vinaigrette. The fancy bit was around the Tilapia. One thing about cooking Tilapia is that it is a delicate fish. One has to be careful since it can break apart easily in the pan. Tilapia can be baked, fried, or cooked in a pan. I decided to pan-fry it. Since my cooking tends to be informal I will just write about what I did, I apologize in advance for any lack of preciseness in times or amount.

Ingredients

One green bell pepper, chopped into bite size pieces.
One small tomato, chopped and seeded.
Two teaspoons (4 cloves) of chopped, marinated garlic.
The juice of one-half a lemon
2 pieces of Tilapia
Olive oil for cooking
Flour for dredging
Arrowroot or flour for thickening a sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste
White cooking wine, about a 1/4 of a cup.

Preparation

For the fish each piece should be cut in half and seasoned with some salt and pepper. The vegetables should be cleaned and chopped. It’s important to prepare ahead of time; this makes the cooking go so much smoother.

Directions

Heat up a pan with some olive oil on medium. The plan here is to saute the peppers, garlic, and tomatoes. Once the pan is to temperature start cooking the peppers. After about a minute I’ll add salt and pepper to the peppers and continue cooking until about five minutes have passed. Then add all the garlic and cook for about another minute. At this point add the tomatoes. After four more minutes remove the vegetables from the pan. If the pan needs more, oil add it now to cook the fish.

Slightly lower the heat for the pan. Before cooking the fish dredge it lightly in flour and add the piece to the pan. Cook as many pieces in the pan as is possible. Since this is four pieces of fish, I can do the whole thing in one go. That works the best. Cook the fish until done. The outside should have a light golden color on both sides. It should only take a minute or two each side as the fish should cook quickly. Once cooked set the fish aside and return the veggies to the pan. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the lemon and white wine. At this point scrape up the leaving in the pan with a spatula. I use a wooden one just for this. Move everything around to coat the vegetables well and let it cook down for a short time. Once it’s reduced about a quarter add the flour/arrowroot to thicken the sauce and let it cook about a minute or so. Once done remove from heat and serve the fish with the veggies and sauce on top.

It came out with a very nice flavor, the lemon/wine sauce added a nice flavor to the fish and the vegetables. You could put a bit of aioli or something else on top if you wanted. The best part of this dish for me was that I used what was in the fridge. I picked up the fish, but the rest was already there. These are the best meals I think. Maybe I’ll start posting about other meals.

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