Ingredients:
– 4 tilapia fillets
– 4 cups frozen blackberries
– 1 cup flour
– 8 bay leaves (fresh or dried)
– 1 lemon
– 2 tbsp butter
– 2 tsp coarse kosher salt
– Olive oil
Three guys are looking at a pyramid of Hamburger Helper boxes in wonder, when one turns to the other and says, “Dude, we need to get as much ground beef as possible.” If that isn’t a cry for help, I don’t know what is.
Tilapia – a type of fish – in blackberry sauce is the perfect dinner on a late summer’s day, and the best part is it’s cheep and easy. On a cutting board, use the edge of a serrated knife to scrape off the lemon zest. (For those who don’t know, lemon zest is the outside of the lemon and it contains a strong lemon flavor.) We are not marinating the tilapia for very long and we will need the flavor of the lemon zest to stand up to the stronger flavors in the dish. Squeeze the lemon juice into a 1-quart plastic bag. (Quick tip: Using plastic bags to marinate or season anything is great because it’s easy to clean up and you don’t have to use as much marinade.)
Toss in the lemon zest as well. Use the knife to cut off the stem of the bay leaves, then place the stemmed bay leaves into a blender. You could use a chef’s knife to chop up the leaves, but I am pretty lazy so I just put my leaves in the blender until there are no pieces larger than a couple millimeters. Put the bay leaves into the plastic bag along with the tilapia.
To make the blackberry sauce, put the frozen blackberries in the microwave for about a minute or two. I use frozen blackberries for a couple of reasons: They are cheaper than fresh ones and they are picked when they are ripe.
Then, put the warm blackberries into a blender. When the sauce is well blended, pour it through a sieve into a small saucepan and warm it over low heat.
Next, spread the flour out on to a large plate. It is very important to season the flour, and for this recipe I would say almost anything goes, but I use about 1/2 a teaspoon each of paprika, salt, ground pepper and ground mustard (ancho chile powder and cayenne can add a kick). Put a large Teflon pan coated with a small amount of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter over medium to high heat. Let the pan get hot.
Dredge the tilapia, which should have been marinating for about 15 to 20 minutes, in the flour mixture, lay it in the hot pan, and give the pan a little shake so the tilapia doesn’t stick. Look for a nice sear, and if you don’t hear a sizzle you probably put the tilapia in too early. As the edges of the tilapia start to brown on the sides, flip and allow the fish to sear on the other side. When the tilapia is a nice golden brown and has cooked for 3 to 4 minutes on both sides, it’s ready for a plate and a spoonful of blackberry sauce.
Bon Appetit.
The Hotplate is a bi-weekly cooking column running on Wednesdays. Nathan Orloff is a graduate physics student and can be reached at diversions@dbk.umd.edu.
