Tilapia

We had dinner at the architect’s house the other night and she made pan fried tilapia with sautéed fennel and wild rice. As usual, it was delicious…she coated the tilapia with a bit of flour and cornmeal then lightly pan fried it in a bit of olive oil and butter. Tilapia cooks up quickly and is not too fishy so it’s a great way to serve fish to those finicky family members or guests who claim not to like fish! *** BoNuS *** tilapia is a lower-fat fish than some oilier companions but still provides high levels of protein and heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA). This is a familiar trio of letters to those of us you who take a fish oil tablet every day to control cholesterol!

Tilapia is a fresh water fish -- shallow streams, ponds, rivers, lakes – and China and Egypt are the largest producers in the world although most of the fresh tilapia fillets consumed in the US are imported fresh daily from South America.

Some of you are probably thinking...gosh, that girl is smart (humor me)… she sure knows about a lot of stuff. And while I certainly do know a lot about some stuff, I am very grateful to Wikipedia, my cookbooks, and knitting books for providing the information to make these posts (loosely) informative and accurate. I try to learn something new each time I write a post so maybe I can FINALLY Go To The Head Of The Class.

Remember that game? We used to sit on our concrete landing and play for hours. When Trivial Pursuit was first introduced I remember thinking it’s just a fancy-schmancy version of the beloved game kids have been playing since 1936! The game offered junior, intermediate and senior level questions in subjects such as science, math, history, literature and geography so that kids of all ages could play against one another. Below is a sample game card…do you know the answers? If so, post a comment!

Don't you just love memories!

Back to tilapia.

There are many ways to prepare tilapia and since Architect pan fried hers, I offer a baked recipe that I found on all recipes.com.

Lemon Garlic Tilapia

Ingredients
4 tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
Pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Rinse tilapia fillets under cool water, and pat dry with paper towels. Place fillets in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over fillets, then drizzle butter on top. Sprinkle with garlic, parsley, and pepper. Bake in preheated oven until the fish is white and flakes when pulled apart with a fork, about 30 minutes.

No dessert this week but we had a delicious field green and grapefruit salad in the lovely traveling salad bowl.