Soy-Sesame Tilapia w/Zucchini

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is such a simple recipe that I marvel that more people have not tried.  It is completely clean without any oils, sugars or starches involved.  Some people say “what about the soy sauce and the horribleness of soy with the sodium and blah blah blah blah”.  I say to those people, look up soy sauce and read about the magic of all things fermented.  Fermented soy sauce contains a lot of oligosaccharides and this is beneficial to the digestive tract of the gut.  These oligosaccharides promote the growth of beneficial gut flora which leads to less lower intestinal tract inflammation which is an overall good thing.

Ingredients:

1.  16 ounces of tilapia filets or loins (loins are pictured).  Unless you are protein restrictive or are trying to lose a lot of weight fast, the serving size for this should still be 4-6 ounces.

2.  6 tablespoons soy sauce (read your lable, make sure it is fermented, not just brown colored salt water)

3.  6 tablespoons sesame seeds

4.  3 medium zucchini cut into 1/4 inch slices.

Recipe:

1.  I highly recommend soaking the fish and zucchin in in soy sauce, but that can be wasteful, as you will toss a lot of soy sauce out.  So basically toss the zucchini in the soy sauce, then brush the leftover onto both sides of the fish until it is gone.

2.  Sprinkle and pat 3/4 of the sesame seeds into the fish.  Sprinkle the rest over the zucchini.

2.  Put it all on the same pan and roast for about 20 minutes or so (depending upon the thickness of the fish) at 375 degrees.  You will need to check the fish to make sure it is done.  The zucchini will still be a little crunchy, which is good.

3.  Put on a plate, eat, yummy.

Consequently, tilapia is one of the few fish that will actually keep and microwave later at work.  So, true to form, we made enough for our meal plus two more to-go dishes for work.  Delish.

Parmesan Tilapia

Posted on by Sam Boyd

This is a super simple recipe that falls square into Phase III.  It takes a little practice but keep in mind that tilapia is a very forgiving fish and parmesan is a very forgiving cheese.

Ingredients

1.  24oz of tilapia, thawed rinsed and pat dried

2.  8oz of shredded parmesan cheese

3.  1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, dried basil, garlic powder and onion powder

Recipe

1.  Liberally salt every piece of fish with the spice mixture.  Do both sides else it will end up bland.

2.  Bake the tilapia in a broilable pan/sheet at 325 for about 15 minutes or until the flesh is between translucent and white.  It will not be finished.

3.  I suggest draining any liquid off the pan.  Place all the cheese on the fish.  If you have 3oz filets, then you should have about 2oz for each filet.

4.  Turn the oven to broil and give it about 1 minute to get to temperature.  Put the fish in.  This is something that gets tricky, but gets better with experience.  It generally only takes about 90 seconds under the broiler to get the cheese all melty and awesome.  I usually pull it out and rotate the pan 180 degrees to get the most even meltiness.

5.  Pull it out and put a couple of lemon wedges with and yummy.

Parchment Tilapia with Lemon Garlic Zucchini

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Ingredients

1.  16 oz (around 4 filets) of wild tilapia

2.  2 large sheets of parchment paper

3.  1 whole lemon, sliced thin into 16 sections

4.  24 fresh basil leaves (4 x 6 leaves)

5.  4 scallions, cut into 4 equal stacks of 1/2″ sections

6.  4 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, white wine vinegar (separated out in sets of 4)

Recipe

1.  Wash your fish and pat dry (you may not think its necessary, but really did the guy who packed it up in wherever actually wash his hands)

2.  Lay 2 lemon slices down on parchment, a bit off-center to one side or the other.

3.  Lay 1 filet on top

4.  Put salt and pepper on top of the fish

5.  Loosely cover with 1 stack of scallions

6.  Place 6 basil leaves over the fish

7.  Place 2 lemon slices on top of fish

8.  Cover in 1` teaspoon white wine vinegar.

8. Repeat this process about 1 inch away on the same sheet of parchment, closer to the edge

9.  Not moving the fish, fold the parchment over and crimp the sides, I stapled them to keep them shut.

10.  Put into an oven that you preheated to 375 degrees sometime either before hand, or wait 10 minutes for it to heat up.

11.  Cut your Zucchini into 1/2″ sections (we used baby zucchini)

12.  Saute on medium with a little olive oil and as much minced garlic as you like (I used about 2 tablespoons in the whole pan).

13.  Fish will take about 12-14 minutes to cook/steam altogether.  If you do it right, your zucchini should be done at the same time that you take out your fish.

14.  Fish removal means simply cutting open your bag with scissors and taking it carefully out of the bag.  I do not recommend eating the basil or the scallions as it will taste similarly to cat vomit mixed with old salad.  In the picture above, there is about 1 lemon wedge per fish, but Emily used 2 per fish.  This was good.  It is light and it is tasty.  If you want more salt (I am a notoriously undersalter) then salt to taste.

inside bag tilapia