Friday, April 27, 2012

Oven Roasted Tilapia with Tomatoes (Asparagus), Pesto and Lemon

It's the end of the week and groceries are running low... I modified this recipe so I could have a tasty dinner without a trip to the grocery store!

Ingredients:
1/4 pint cherry tomatoes or 1/4 pint grape tomatoes (We only had 5 grape tomatoes left, so I added a bunch of asparagus we had leftoever from earlier this week).
2 garlic cloves (I only used 1 large clove...)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp pesto sauce
1 lemon (No lemons, so I substituted lemon juice)
4 oz tilapia fillet (You can buy individually wrapped, frozen fillets)
salt and pepper

Directions:
  1. Gently combine the tomatoes (asparagus), garlic and olive oil with a little salt and pepper if desired and roast in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes.
  2. Juice the lemon and mix SOME of the juice with the pesto (or just use some lemon juice out of a bottle...), adding more if desired or needed keeping the pesto a nice spreadable consistency.  Spread mixture on top of the fish which has been seasoned with a little more salt and pepper if desired.
  3. Cut the juiced lemon in halves again so that you have two pieces of lemon to support each fillet.  Place a fillet on top of two pieces of juiced lemon so that the fish is somewhat sout of any liquid that accumulates, allowing it to roast rather than boil.  (I couldn't do this, so I just placed it on top of the tomato/asparagus combo, slathered pesto/lemon juice mixture on top, and threw it back in the oven).
  4. Return to oven for 10 minutes.
  5. Place the fish along with the tomatoes and garlic and serve with more lemon wedges if desired.
I served it with some toasted pinenut couscous mix we had in the pantry.  Yum!

Cost:
I really have no idea... all the ingredients were already here, so as far as I'm concerned, it was free!

Sorry there's no picture for this post due to a plating-disaster!