Crispy Tilapia with Citrus/Savory Sauce

The inspiration from this dish comes from one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, Tangerine. They make it using a sea bass but I tried it with tilapia, any kind of white fish would work well. I think they steam the fish and but I thought trying it with crispy fish would be a cool twist.





Ingredients:
2-4 Tilapia Filets
1 leek finely chopped – green onions will work if you can’t get leek
10-12 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
½ cup of edamame (if frozen, precook in the microwave for a minute) – peas will work as well.
1 tablespoon of finely diced ginger
2 finely diced garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed citrus. I actually used tangerine, which I had on hand, but lemon or limes would work as well.
1 tablespoon of soy sauce. If you can get it use the really thick soy sauce that you get in Asian markets.
¼- ½ cup of chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon of flour

Prep work is key to this dish because it comes together quickly. So start out by getting all your veggies diced and sauces poured in small cups.

To begin get your oven pre-heated to 450 degrees.

For the Fish – on the stove top, heat up a couple table spoons of olive oil to just a high enough heat that is does not smoke, then sear the fish filets (pepper and salt them on each side while cooking) until they are crispy on each side. It only takes a few minutes on each side. As soon as they are crispy and cooked, put them in a pan and into the oven so they stay hot and crisp.

Sauce – using the same pan you cooked the fish in – put in a bit more olive oil and a little butter, add the diced garlic, ginger and leeks and cook for a minute or so. Then add in the flour and brown it up a bit, next the chicken stock, soy sauce and citrus sauce. Bring it to a quick boil and add the edamame and tomatoes. Pepper it up to taste. If the sauce gets to thick just add a bit more stock or water. The sauce will come together quickly, like 5 minutes.

I served it up with steamed brown rice and steamed broccoli and ladled the sauce over the fish and rice. It was so tasty! The combination of flavors really work and over the crispy fish, it is delicious!

One Pot Chicken Dish

This is a really tasty and quick one pot chicken dish. You can change up the veggies if you don't like brussels sprouts, but they are really yummy when roasted like this! Also, if you want add in some diced potato. I prefer to serve it with brown rice.






2 chicken breasts cut each one into 2-3 pieces
4 small chick thighs
(Of course you can use all chicken breast or thighs if you prefer
12-14 Brussels sprouts cut in half
2 large carrots sliced into chunks
½ diced yellow onion
3-4 garlic gloves, diced
2 cups of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
Couple tablespoons of flour
Spices: ½ teaspoon each - salt, pepper, and basil leaves

Salt/pepper the chicken and lightly roll in flour and then put in a hot pan with some olive oil (one you can transfer right to the oven) and sear them on the stove top about 2-3 mins on each side. Now add in the veggies, place them all in/around the chicken pieces. Then add in the chicken stock and soy sauce, pepper and basil leaves. Now bake it in an oven (un covered) at 375-400 for about 15 minutes until the chicken pieces are done and the veggies roasted a bit.

When you serve it you can give each person a taste of both the white and dark chicken with the veggies and then pour the sauce over it. I do think it is good served over the top of rice and then all the juices mix together. It would also be delicious with mashed potato!

Simply Soup

Are you sick of my soup recipes yet? See summer is starting in San Francisco, which means cool and foggy nights so soup works well. I am all about the quick and easy ones and experimenting a bit. Here is one that turned out really tasty. It took a bit longer because I made my own stock, but you could use store bought as well and put it together in under 30 minutes.

Here is all you will need:

8-10 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
(If you make your own follow my Chicken Soup recipe for clear stock)
2 cups of chopped carrots
2 cups of corn (I scored the corn off of corn cobs to get a fresh corn flavor – yummy)
1 cup of peas
Teaspoon of fresh-diced ginger
½ cup of scallions
2 cups of cooked brown rice
2 cups of shredded or cooked chopped chicken breast (you don’t need the chicken if you just want a veggie soup)

Boil the carrots and corn in the stock for about 8-10 minutes and then add the peas and ginger and bring to quick boil.

Now you simply put the bowls together, in each bowl:
Couple table spoons of chicken, a tablespoon of brown rice and then ladle in the broth with the veggies. Top is off with the fresh scallions and pepper/salt to taste.

Serve this one up with some sliced French bread toasted in the oven with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt. I also served some pea pods and hummus on the side.