Tilapia Provençal
I hardly ever make one-pot dinners and as I was reading through this month’s Martha Stewart Living magazine I came across a recipe for Cod Provençal. I took one look at the picture and knew I had to make it. Fortunately, I had some tilapia fillets in the freezer and almost all the other ingredients in my refrigerator. On my way home from work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up the fresh thyme and I saw the poblano pepper (not in the original recipe) sitting there calling my name. Prepping this entire meal took maybe 10 minutes at the most and with all the cooking time it totaled about 50 minutes.
Ingredients & Directions:
(recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living)
- 6 Tilapia fillets, skinned
- 1 Lemon
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- Pepper
- 2 T Olive Oil
- 1 Large Red Onion, chopped (you could use any onion or shallots)
- 2 Garlic Cloves, diced
- 1 Zucchini, sliced
- 1 Large Tomato, sliced
- 1 Poblano Pepper, chopped (optional)
- 2 tsp fresh thyme, plus 3 sprigs
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place tilapia filets in a nonreactive dish, and squeeze lemon on top. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and season with pepper. Heat 1 T oil in a medium Dutch, or if you don’t have one like me (cry) use a deep oven safe pan, oven over medium heat. Add onions; cook until golden brown on a low heat, about 12 minutes. Add garlic; cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Top with half the zucchini, tomatoes, poblano pepper, and thyme. Drizzle with 1 1/2 tsp oil, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and season with pepper.
Add tilapia and remaining zucchini, tomatoes, thyme, peppers, oil, and salt. Season with pepper. Bake, covered, for 10 minutes. Baste with the juices, and bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes more.
The finished dinner was full of flavor. The onions and thyme add such a nice richness to the meal that I wasn’t expecting and the poblano pepper that I added on a whim was a great addition. I know the pepper takes away from the fact that this is a French dish, but if you feel strongly about it leave it out. I always like to improvise when cooking so it just made sense to me.
I decided to serve it with a little jasmine rice that I had leftover from the night before. Oh and if anyone wants to gift me with a Le Creuset Dutch Oven for Christmas I won’t be offended.
(Steven)
