1/8/12 – Pan seared tilapia with roasted tomatillo sauce

Pictures are getting prettier.

Today I made roasted tomatillo sauce for the first time. I basically followed this from Simply Recipes (http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tomatillo_salsa_verde/). I made a much smaller batch. No measurements just based it off of flavor. I roasted the tomatillos and added garlic. I did not add any serrano peppers but I did add a jalapeno to some I set aside. I added that to the pan I seared the tilapia in to get all the yummy bits and to reduce the sauce. From start to finish it took about 15 minutes to make this.

I had never cooked fish in my 13 years with Sean until the last 4 months. Now I cook tilapia about once a week. I just do a simple dredge with seasoned flour (sea salt, pepper, dried parsley, dried dill weed, lemon pepper with dill). Then I cook them in a medium to medium high skillet with a little olive for about 2-4 minutes per side. I then place them on a cookie sheet and put them in a 250° oven to keep them warm and finish cooking if need be. To cook 6 fillets it took about 15 minutes.

Since I had some cherry tomatoes I needed to use I made oven roasted tomatoes (yes, I realize I love to roast things...need a new word). I rinsed them, left them whole and but them in a small cooking dish. I topped them with a little olive oil, sea salt and pepper. They cooked for about 15 minutes at 350°. I then added a little fresh garlic and roasted for another 15 minutes at 250°. Delish! This is a good site for roasting tomatoes (http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/slow-roasted-tomatoes/)

I served it with:
- Roasted garlic and olive oil couscous (http://www.neareast.com/#products/roasted_garlic_olive_oil_couscous)
- HEB fresh steamable green beans

All of this took about 45 minutes to cook. If the fish were defrosted in advance it would have taken about 30 minutes. Everything can be cooked at the same time so that is a bonus.

Verdict:
The girls loved everything except for the tomatillo sauce. Just think it was too different for them. They also didn't eat the tomatoes but they did last time so no worries. They had seconds on everything else. It was sooooo good. I had to control myself to not have more because I was already full. But I really, really wanted more.