Recipe: Campeche-Style Baked Tilapia
Feb. 11th, 2006 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssian- based on a Rick Bayless recipe
I had some tilapia fillets ready to go, and wanted to try a different way to bake them. I've been poking around for various chipotle-type things (Frontera, Suzie Hot Sauce, and others), and after a recent discussion in a friend's journal that started out with Taco Bell and some Mexican food discussions, I found - for some inexplicable reason - that I really wanted to try something with hot, spicy, goodness.
Despite Deb absolutely loving Mexican food, she has an outright animosity towards cilantro. I personally am ambivalent towards it, not having even heard of it (to my memory) until Deb started working at California Pizza Kitchen, where it seemed to be used in some quantity. Since then, I've seen it highlighted as an extra special thing to include - whether Mex, Tex-Mex, or just Pseudo-Yuppie. Thus, we had to modify the core recipe from the Frontera site, using basil in place of cilantro, and further modified in one other way - the only salsa on hand was Chi Chi's Fiesta salsa (hot), which I actually enjoy as a cold side salsa. That said, I hope to make this again using Frontera's Chipotle Salsa or Tangy Two-Chile Salsa rather than the ones mentioned in the recipe (sorry, Rick, but I likes me chipotle!)
I used a small pyrex baking dish, which kept the fillets a little too close for company, and that probably helped add to the baking time - we did the 350 degree oven for probably close to 25 minutes by the time flakiness was achieved (on the part of the fish; the rest of us are naturally flaky.) Next time, I'll try to space them out a bit on the larger dish and see if that comes closer to the expected cook time.
I served the fish on top of two (per person) Charras Tostada de maiz and with rice (we used cheddar broccoli, because we had a small quantity we needed to use up, and just needed to add a bit more to make a full meal; something more Spanish or Mexican would go nicely as well.)
I'd say everyone liked it, but that wouldn't be completely true: everyone who ate it liked it. Rachel and Brandon had their tilapia baked in balsamic vinaigrette in individually wrapped foil packets for about a dozen minutes or so.
I had some tilapia fillets ready to go, and wanted to try a different way to bake them. I've been poking around for various chipotle-type things (Frontera, Suzie Hot Sauce, and others), and after a recent discussion in a friend's journal that started out with Taco Bell and some Mexican food discussions, I found - for some inexplicable reason - that I really wanted to try something with hot, spicy, goodness.
Despite Deb absolutely loving Mexican food, she has an outright animosity towards cilantro. I personally am ambivalent towards it, not having even heard of it (to my memory) until Deb started working at California Pizza Kitchen, where it seemed to be used in some quantity. Since then, I've seen it highlighted as an extra special thing to include - whether Mex, Tex-Mex, or just Pseudo-Yuppie. Thus, we had to modify the core recipe from the Frontera site, using basil in place of cilantro, and further modified in one other way - the only salsa on hand was Chi Chi's Fiesta salsa (hot), which I actually enjoy as a cold side salsa. That said, I hope to make this again using Frontera's Chipotle Salsa or Tangy Two-Chile Salsa rather than the ones mentioned in the recipe (sorry, Rick, but I likes me chipotle!)
I used a small pyrex baking dish, which kept the fillets a little too close for company, and that probably helped add to the baking time - we did the 350 degree oven for probably close to 25 minutes by the time flakiness was achieved (on the part of the fish; the rest of us are naturally flaky.) Next time, I'll try to space them out a bit on the larger dish and see if that comes closer to the expected cook time.
I served the fish on top of two (per person) Charras Tostada de maiz and with rice (we used cheddar broccoli, because we had a small quantity we needed to use up, and just needed to add a bit more to make a full meal; something more Spanish or Mexican would go nicely as well.)
I'd say everyone liked it, but that wouldn't be completely true: everyone who ate it liked it. Rachel and Brandon had their tilapia baked in balsamic vinaigrette in individually wrapped foil packets for about a dozen minutes or so.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-12 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-12 06:12 pm (UTC)