Thursday, October 22, 2009

My Mom is an Ant


If I had to categorize my mom as either an ant or a grasshopper in terms of grocery shopping, she's definitely an ant. Whenever there's a sale at Ralphs or Hows, she would load up on protein for the week (more like a month). There's a neat system she runs each time too: she portions out the different meats and filed away the individual packets in their respective corners of the freezer, where they're ready to be defrosted and cooked for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It's a highly proficient system and I've got to admit it's genius. Just yesterday, when I was hankering for fish, there it was, a sandwich biggie of Tilapia was waiting for me patiently in the lower shelf.

Using just ingredients from our pantry and backyard, I created a simple, yet filling lunch. Here's the recipe:



Cornmeal encrusted Tilapia filet with a caper garlic lime sauce and chickpea puree with roasted garlic

Tilapia Filet
1. Season Tilapia filet with S&P, then dredge in cornmeal
2. Pan fry in olive oil till crispy and cooked through (5 mins)

Chickpea Puree
1. Blend one can of chickpeas (drained) with S&P and olive oil. Mine was infused with mint, but extra virgin works great as well.
2. In a pan render out 2 Tb of chopped Salo (or bacon) till crispy.
3. Press 2 cloves of garlic in the pan and cook till soft
4. Add Salo and garlic with all the oil into the puree and mix well

Caper Garlic Lime Sauce
1. In the same pan that you fried the fish, add sliced garlic and capers
2. Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth, a squeeze of lime and cook till reduced
3. Turn off the heat before stirring in 1 Tb of butter to emulsify

To plate: add a healthy mount of puree on the plate, place filet on top, drizzle with the sauce and finish with lime zest and chiffonade basil.

Bon Appetit!

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