I was a vegetarian for more than 10 years of my life.
During that time, I lost my taste for a lot of foods that I once enjoyed.
Most seafood is in that category. I used to love all seafood - fish, lobster, scallops, you name it. My preference just never came back, no matter how often I forced myself to try.
Last fall, I tasted tilapia for the first time. I was at a banquet buffet; I only knew it was pecan-crusted something. It was delicious.
Since then, I've tried tilapia a few times, just to make sure, and I've liked it every time. I decided it was time for the next step.
I told Joe that we should have tilapia for dinner some night.
I found this recipe in Everyday Food magazine. It used some other fishier-tasting fish, but we always make adjustments anyway.
Recipe
Honey Mustard Tilapia with Onions and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- ¼ cup plus 1-2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced into rings
- 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (if you aren't saving the heels of your bread loves in the freezer, start now! You can either buy day-old bread or leave a few slices out on the table to get stale.)
- 1 pound tilapia filets
- 1 pound broccoli florets cut into bite-sized pieces (or however you like your broccoli)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450.
- Make a vinaigrette by whisking together honey, mustard, vinegar, and oil.
- Toss the broccoli in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (or whatever oil you use at home). Cover a shallow baking dish with the oily broccoli, and roast it for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the florets are starting to brown and get soft. Toss roasted broccoli in 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette; set aside.
- Toss onion with 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette. Arrange in a single layer on a bar pan (or other shallow baking dish). Bake 5 minutes.
- While the onions are baking, add 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette to the breadcrumbs. Pour another tablespoon of the vinaigrette into a shallow dish. Coat each piece of tilapia with vinaigrette, then top it with breadcrumbs.
- Place the now-breaded tilapia filets on top of the partially-cooked onions. Bake until the fish is thoroughly cooked, about 7 minutes.
- To serve, top the fish with onions and a healthy heap of roasted broccoli.
Gina says
This flavor combination sounds wonderful! I think my kids would dig it. I've always recommended tilapia to those who don't like seafood. It's so mild and easy to add yummy flavors to. Thanks for the great recipe!
Tara Ziegmont says
It was really good. In the original recipe, they said to serve the onions on the side, but the flavors were so bold and delicious that we really liked it with the fish. We've been eating tilapia pretty often since I discovered it. Joe loves all seafood.