Something Fishy going on around here.

This time we wanted something a little special so it's time for two filleted Tilapia, some Acorn Squash and our old standard - Baked veggies.

Take the tilapia fillets and rinse them and pat them dry.  Place them on a flat surface and season with a mixture of corn meal, garlic powder, butter buds, salt, pepper and ginger.  The total mixture measured only about 2 Tbs.  Use about half the seasoning and reserve the remainder for the other side (after turning them over in the pan).  This is a very light coating designed to season and not to coat or bread the fish.

Cut the Acorn Squash in sections and remove the seeds.  Lay them on a baking sheet (I cover with foil for ease of cleaning) and drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil over them.  Season with all spice, salt, pepper, garlic powder and butter buds.  Bake these wedges in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 to 60 minutes (depending on the thickness of the wedges).

The other roasted veggies are listed in a prior post.

When the veggies are within 15 minutes of being done you want to place one Tbs of extra virgin olive oil and one tsp of butter in a pan and warm to medium-high.  Lightly salt the pan just prior to placing the seasoned tilapia into the pan with the seasoning side down.  Pinch the remaining seasoning onto the top side of the fillets as they cook and at 2-1/2 minutes carefully turn them over (I like to use two wide spatulas to lift, turn and place them back in the pan) and continue cooking for 4 additional minutes covered and with the heat reduced to med-low.  Before covering drizzle the juice of 1/2 lemon.  With the warming time for the pan to become evenly heated prior to placing the fish within you should be removing the fish from the heat as the veggies are ready to remove from the oven.

As you can see, the acorn squash is slightly browned and is truly sweet enough to be dessert.

This combination provides for a very pleasant looking meal.  The flavors of the mixed veggies and the sweetness of the squash work very well with the sweet/tender meat of the fish.

Why not?

It seems like a good day to enjoy some salmon for supper.  The faithful combination of roasted vegetables and butter fried salmon fillet seems like a great way to eat extremely well and healthy for just a couple of bucks.  One 3/4 lb Steelhead Salmon Fillet dusted with spices and herbs and let to rest at room temp. while vegetables roast.

The vegetables are cut into approx 1 inch pieces and include, bell pepper, squash, red onion and asparagus.  This time I used two green bell peppers though it's fun to use one green and one red or orange or yellow pepper for the added color.  The veggies are spread to a single layer in a roasting pan and then coated with 3 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil and then dusted with 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp of garlic powder and 1/2 tsp of butter buds.  The roasting pan of veggies is placed in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring a couple of times during the half hour.

The Salmon is placed in a hot (but not smoking) pan with a Tbs of butter placed in the pan just before placing the salmon face down.  After 2 minutes (shaking 3 or 4 times during the 2 minutes) the salmon is turned onto the skin, the temperature reduced to medium low and drizzled with some lemmon juice and then covered for the remainder of about 6 minutes.  The salmon should just start to flake but not be dried out.

This time the veggies and salmon cost a total of just under $13.00 and provided for a full serving of veggies left over for another day.