Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Tilapia with Caper-Parsley Sauce and Roasted Potatoes


LESLIE BUDEWITZ: You’d think from my posts the last few months that we’re big fish eaters. We do try to eat fish a couple of times a week, and the sauces we’ve discovered recently make that easy. Tilapia is great baked with a Panko and Parmesan coating, with smoked paprika, but I wanted other varieties, so I went looking. Hence, my posts on Lemon-Garlic Grilled Tilapia with Couscous and Grilled Cod with Parsley-Caper Pesto, not to be confused with this sauce! (Okay, you’re confused. It’s okay—I’m confused, too. But at least we’re all well fed.) Cod or any other firm, white fish would be good here, too.

We’re big sauce fans, so when we make this for the two of us, we don’t cut the amount of sauce ingredients. (Mr. Right calls sauce “goop.” Not long after we were married, his older brother visited. Dinner involved a sauce. He called it “goop.” Their mother, ever gracious, simply rolled her eyes.) It's a fairly simple reduction, much like Julia Child's famous sauce for chicken.

Potatoes might seem like an odd side dish to fish, but they’re terrific here. And they are scrumptious with the goop. (As the picture shows, we also enjoyed asparagus that night, but of course, it's highly seasonal, so choose whatever side vegetable you'd like.)

Tilapia with Caper-Parsley Sauce and Roasted Potatoes 

1 ½ pounds fingerling or new potatoes, halved

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more if needed

kosher salt and black pepper

4 6-ounce tilapia fillets

4 ½ tablespoons cold butter

1 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons capers

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

Preheat oven to 450° F.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. On the baking sheet, toss the potatoes with the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, season the tilapia with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Heat 1½ tablespoons of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the tilapia in batches until cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side, adding more oil to the pan if necessary. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Add the wine to the skillet and cook over medium-high heat until reduced by half, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, plus the capers and parsley. Serve with the tilapia and potatoes.

Serves 4.














From the cover of GUILTY AS CINNAMON: 

Murder heats up Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the next Spice Shop mystery from the national bestselling author of Assault and Pepper.

Pepper Reece knows that fiery flavors are the spice of life. But when a customer dies of a chili overdose, she finds herself in hot pursuit of a murderer…




Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. The president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat Ruff, a cover model and avid bird-watcher.

Swing by my website  and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join me on Facebookwhere I often share news of new books and giveaways from my cozy writer friends.


3 comments:

  1. And to think fish used to be an inexpensive dish.

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    Replies
    1. True -- it does seem to have gotten pricier. One trick is to eat smaller pieces, as with steak, using them as an accent with the emphasis on the vegetables and grains, and to make a really tasty sauce!

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  2. That looks very interesting! We have quite a bit of fish because it is fishing season. Fish is good!

    ReplyDelete