It has been an incredibly looooooooooong time since I’ve posted any fish recipes. Yes, it’s been almost a full year. At this point last year, I had just begun dabbling with my vegan lifestyle. However, as I had written a few months ago, I had considered reintegrating fish back into my diet, especially because I knew I wanted to put on weight in a healthy manner, and wanted to hire a personal trainer. At first I didn’t think fish would be something that I would keep in my diet on a regular basis, but as I started doing more training the more I craved animal rich protein. I hate to say that, especially since all my recipes are vegan (excluding the fact that I eat Greek yoghurt), but everything is fully vegan.
Pistachio Crusted Tilapia Filets
Ingredients:
I can’t deny myself something if my body is craving it however, I did that for quite some time which later developed into an eating disorder and I’m not about to go down that road again. With that being said, if I crave something, I will eat it, whether it’s good or bad for me, /cough those Mint Chocolate Baileys Cookies, anyone else?!
One of my favourite nuts are pistachios, and one of my favourite fish is tilapia, finding a recipe incorporating both of these I knew I had to try it, especially since I was given some pistachios at Christmas that I still hadn’t opened up, since I was waiting for a “special time” to use them, well that special time came for this recipe. At first I didn’t know how the both of them would meld together but it was amazing! This is a fish recipes that needs to be the focus of certain restaurant menus. It was light, refreshing, crunchy, with a little bit of a zing as well as it left you with a feeling of home comfort. This recipe made me reminisce of the summer, and it is certainly one that will be enjoyed in the summer. It was a cinch to throw together, took barely any time at all, and the results were fantastic. Would certainly suggest trying this out, especially if you need a new way to cook your go-to fish.
Pistachio Crusted Tilapia Filets
Ingredients:
- 2 fillets of tilapia
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped/crushed pistachios
- 1 Meyer lemon
- 2 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut in small pieces
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and fresh pepper
- 1 bag of baby spinach
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Drizzle a little olive oil in a pot and heat it up on a medium heat. When the pan is hot, put in the spinach and, pulling the pan off the heat, just toss it and let it wilt. Add some salt and pepper. Set aside.
Drizzle the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil and lay the two pieces of flounder on top. Sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper and then drizzle them with olive oil. Press in a good coating of the crushed pistachios over each fish. Don't skimp. Dot with the butter, squeeze half the lemon over the fish, and bake for 10 minutes.
Put under the broiler briefly, just until the nuts get a little golden and everything is sizzling. Watch carefully because the nuts will burn very quickly. Serve the fish over the spinach with wedges of Meyer lemon.
Note: You can substitute just about any fish, but I think a mild white fish like sole, tilapia, haddock or snapper would work best. The best way to chop the nuts is in a mini food processor, it will only take 15 seconds or so.
Tropical Island Spinach Salad
Since I had a bed of wilted spinach underneath the tilapia I decided to make a side spinach salad to go along with it. It was incredibly quick to throw together, and because the fish was reminiscent of the summer I thought I would make a salad that would also send me to that far away land. This salad was right down my ally of course considering the tropical flavours. This was also very easy to whip up and is very versatile don’t have any pineapple or oranges? How about throwing in some mango, banana, coconut or even grapefruit? The possibilities are endless and it is a great way to get some iron into you!
Ingredients:
- Large handful of spinach ~ 2 cups
- 1 tangelo minneola – chopped and segmented (or any other type of orange you have on hand)
- 1/4 cup of chopped pineapple
- 1 tbsp of pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 tbsp slivered almonds
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Freshly squeezed lime juice - dressing
Seeing as tilapia is so versatile, how do you like to enjoy it?
No comments:
Post a Comment