Go Fish: Tilapia with Avocado-Lime Sauce

I’ve become an avocado monster. I eat them probably 5 days a week. Typically cut up in my salad. This sauce was a recent discovery, and really- it’s all about the sauce. This sauce would be tasty on a potato- sweet or otherwise I think. Tonight we grilled tilapia with a coating of Penzy’s Singapore mix. We mixed up the following sauce to ahve over the grilled fish and it was soooo good.

Scoop out one avocado and blend with 1/4 cup sour cream, 1 TBSP fresh lime (I just used a whole small one we had- it was only slightly bigger than a golf ball) with 3 TBSP milk. Add salt & pepper to taste. Spoon over fish!

Go Fish: Tilapia with mushrooms & grits:

Our second favorite fish dish has become Grilled Tilapia. In this recipe you also get a way to prepare mushrooms which is absolutely delicious. This restaraunt that we frequent often has a side dish of sauteed mushrooms in a pasty shell. After we got in the habit of keeping puff pastry in the freezer with our favorite Salmon dish, we started cutting out puff pastry shapes, baking them and dishing this mushroom sauce over them. We also like to serve it with roasted broccoli or sauteed spinach and these creamy grits. The original recipe is here.

 

• Mushroom Scallion Sauce: Melt  1 Tbsp butter in a large saute pan. Saute  2 C sliced baby portabella mushrooms and  ½ Cup sliced scallions for about 3 minutes. Stir in ¼ Cup white wine and ½ pint heavy cream. Season with 1 tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste. Stir until sauce thickens slightly. Keep warm until ready to serve.

• Tilapia: Heat grill to medium. Rinse and dry fillets and then rub with jerk seasoning. Grill tilapia for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove from heat.

• Puff Pastry: Take frozen puff pastry out of freezer just prior to baking. Cut shapes out of pastry with cookie cutters or a glass. Bake on cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

• Creamy Grits: Ingredients: Take: 1 cup heavy cream, 1 can (1 2/3 C) chicken broth, 1 cup water to a boil in medium saucepan. Add 4 TBSP butter, ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Slowly wihisk in 1 cup quick grits and reduce heat. Cook 15-20 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently.

Plate entree by spooning grits on center of plate. Lay tilapia on top of grits. Layer Mushroom sauce over prepared puff pastry shapes. Best when served immediately

Go fish. For Salmon:

I’ve never been a big fish eater. It was adventurous for me to even order tuna salad for lunch for years. But in the last couple of years our horizon’s have broadened and we’ve started to collect fish recipes realizing how simple they really are to prepare. Last summer this Salmon became one of two fast favorites for a nice, but quick meal.

The Salmon (recipe from Giada de Laurentiis):

Ingredients
4 pieces of purchased puff pastry, each cut to be just larger than a piece of salmon
4 (4 to 6-ounce) pieces salmon
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup pesto
2 tomatoes, sliced

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
On a foil-lined baking sheet, place the 4 pieces of puff pastry. Also place the 4 pieces of salmon, being careful to make sure they are not touching. Sprinkle each piece of salmon with 1 tablespoon of the sliced almonds.

Bake for 10 minutes.

To serve, place each piece of puff pastry on a plate. Top each puff pastry with 1 tablespoon of pesto. Top the pesto with 2 slices of tomatoes each. Top the tomatoes with the salmon and serve.