Guest Rebecca Adler with Pecan-Crusted Tilapia #bookgiveaway

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Today we welcome back to the blog Rebecca Adler, with a recipe for a pecan-crusted tilapia with golden rum butter sauce that's got me smacking my lips for dinner -- and I just finished breakfast!

REBECCA ADLER: Growing up in small town Florida, my exposure to Tex-Mex was limited to the locally-owned Pancho’s on Okaloosa Island. This local favorite offered everything my young heart could desire: tacos, queso, and enchiladas. Occasionally, I would try something exotic from my mother’s plate. Guacamole, refried beans, or tamales.

Have you heard the old saying, I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got there as fast as I could? That’s me. After living in NYC and Maine with limited access to quality, lip-smacking Tex-Mex, I was thrilled to be in the midst of an overabundance of restaurants and taco stands offering, not one, but countless varieties of my very favorite foods.

With the release of The Good, the Bad, and the Guacamole--the second book in my Taste of Texas series-- I am excited to share the recipes for some of my very favorite Tex-Mex, and Texas, culinary delights. My favorite recipe in the book is definitely Senora Mari’s Pecan-Encrusted Tilapia. I recently made this dish with a dear friend. The recipe was simple, fresh, and oh so delicious. The end result? A delightful afternoon filled with scrumptious fare and heartwarming conversation.

Leave a comment below for a chance to win a signed paperback of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE GUACAMOLE (US addresses only). 

Senora Mari’s Pecan-Crusted Tilapia

Makes 4 servings

Prep time: 15 minutes. Cook time: 8 minutes

½ cup pecan halves

4 fresh tilapia fillets, about 6 ounces each

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons butter

Golden Rum-Butter Sauce (recipe follows)

lemon wedges, for garnish

fresh parsley sprigs, for garnish

Chop the pecans until fine and pour into a shallow bowl. Sprinkle the fish fillets with salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Dredge the fish in the finely chopped pecans.

In a large nonstick pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the fillets, and cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until well-browned and the fish flakes when pierced with a fork.

Serve each fillet with Golden Rum-Butter Sauce (recipe below), a lemon wedge, and a parsley sprig, if desired. (Leslie: And why on earth would you not desire?)

Golden Rum-Butter Sauce

3 tablespoons butter

1 shallot, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons rum

1 teaspoon honey

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Melt butter in a small pan over medium-high heat. Stir in the minced shallot and garlic. Continue stirring occasionally until the shallot is tender.

Reduce heat to low. Whisk in the rum slowly, and then add the honey, salt, lemon juice, and orange juice. Cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Serve warm.

Variation

You may substitute fresh lemon juice for rum.

Leave a comment below, with your email address, for a chance to win a signed paperback of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE GUACAMOLE (US addresses only). The winner will be chosen on Tues, Oct. 18.

Rebecca grew up on the sugar beaches of the Florida Gulf Coast. Drawn to the Big Apple by the sweet smell of wishful thinking, she studied acting on Broadway until a dark-eyed cowboy flung her over his saddle and hightailed it to the Southwest.

Prior to writing, she always found a way to add a touch of the dramatic to her life from dinner theatre in Mississippi to playing a giant Furskin in the New York Toy Fair, plus plays and musicals.

She's currently content to pour her melodramatic tendencies into writing the Taste of Texas cozy culinary mystery series set in far West Texas filled with sweet, Southern-fried flavor, delicious suspense, and scrumptious Tex-Mex recipes. Rebecca's alter ego, Gina Lee Nelson writes sweet contemporary romance.

Where to Find Rebecca: 

Website:  http://www.authorrebeccaadler.com/ 

Facebook: @AuthorRebeccaAdler

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3162024.Rebecca_Adler

Twitter: @CozyTxMysteries

www.berkleysignetmysteries.com

Where to Find the Book:

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/TheGoodTheBadTheGuacamole

Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/GoodBadGuacamoleMystery

KOBO: http://tinyurl.com/TheGoodTheBadTheGuacamole-KOBO

Apple: http://tinyurl.com/GoodBadGuacamole-APPLE