Coconut Garlic Tilapia

I have a case of tilapia in my freezer that I bought a few months ago at a seafood dock sale. (Basically, a middleman commits a group of people to spend X amount of money and we get to order seafood straight from the boats, same as restaurants do. Killer prices and really great quality. Perks of living near a port town, eh? Seattle kinda rocks. Yeah, I said it.)

Anyhow, this particular case of tilapia is...fishy. I mean, it's fish, yes, but I was at a loss. I usually just steam tilapia with ginger, top it with soy sauce, and call it a day. I've had to get creative with these filets. In the past I've had good luck with breading and pan-frying them, but I wanted something different tonight. These filets were inspired by this recipe I posted a few months ago. This was a hit with everyone, including the impromptu dinner guest that stopped by "just to say hello."

I served this with leftover white jasmine rice and sautéed romaine lettuce (tossed with 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce and 1 tsp. sugar). With the filets thawed out, and leftover rice in the fridge, dinner took all of 15 minutes from cupboard to table. Easy peasy!


Coconut Garlic Tilapia

8 tilapia filets
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. molasses
5 cloves of garlic, sliced
3 dashes salt
5 dashes fresh cracked pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Arrange tilapia filets on a baking sheet or 9x13 pan.

2. In a small mixing bowl, use a spoon to combine the (hard) coconut oil, brown sugar, molasses, sliced garlic, salt and pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste.

3. Top each filet with a heaping spoonful of the sugar mixture, dividing up the entire bowl of the sugar mixture evenly across your filets.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until filets are cooked through and the topping has melted and started to caramelize.

Serve with rice and a green veggie. Enjoy!

Baked Salmon with a Coconut Scented Soy Sauce Glaze

Tonight's recipe is based off of this one here. I made one change (coconut oil for butter) and it made an amazing glaze that was good on everything on our plates. I served this salmon alongside steamed broccoli, butternut squash ravioli and homemade "pizza bread" (this french bread recipe, with sun-dried tomatoes and chunks of mozzarella mixed in).

Salmon with Coconut Scented Soy Sauce Glaze
(Adapted from Pots and Pins)

Yield: glaze for up to 5 salmon filets

Ingredients:
Salmon filets
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. regular soy sauce

Preheat oven to 325 and use a paper towel to blot your salmon filets dry. Prepare a cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment paper, sprayed with cooking spray. Arrange your filets on the sheet, and bake for 12 minutes.

While the fish is baking, prepare your glaze: Combine coconut oil, sugar and soy sauce in a microwave safe bowl and stir to combine. Microwave as needed to get everything combined with few or no lumps of coconut oil remaining.

When your 12 minutes are up, remove fish from oven, carefully turn each fillet over with a spatula, divide the glaze between the filets. Bake another 8 minutes, and then broil for 2-3 minutes if desired to crisp up the edges.

Pan Seared Tilapia with Mandarin Orange Sauce

 

If this was a fancy restaurant, I might call this Mandarin Orange Pan Seared Tilapia with Crisped Ginger and Garlic. Whatever.

 

This was quick, delicious, and (amazingly) totally adored by everyone at the table. Including the five year old who would prefer to eat Nutella and bread five times a day.

 

Mandarin Orange Tilapia

 

Ingredients:

Tilapia filets

1/2” knob of ginger, julienned

5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

Olive oil

1 tin Mandarin Oranges

3 tsp corn starch

Green onions, to garnish

 

1. In a small sauce pan, stir together the can of mandarin oranges (including the juice), and the corn starch. Cook over medium heat until bubbly and thickened.

2. Meanwhile, in a skillet, combine a drizzle of olive oil with the ginger and garlic. Turn on your heat to medium high, and heat the oil until the garlic and ginger just start to sizzle and smell good.

3. Add your tilapia (carefully dried on paper towels!) and cook until golden and done, approximately 3-4 minutes per side.

4. Serve the tilapia over rice, with the orange sauce, and garnish with sliced green onions.

 

Enjoy!