The Aspiring Luddite

	I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Tilapia Grenobloise
5 January 2012 [Served]

Late last year (a few weeks ago), a friend asked for some recipes for a seafood dish to take to a family holiday meal. She got quite a few good suggestions, although she was later overruled by maternal fiat and given no choice in the matter.

My suggestion was skate Grenobloise, and even though she wasn't able to make it, mentioning it gave me a taste for it, and soon I was perusing the fish counter at my local store. Sadly, there was no skate to be found, so I settled on tilapia instead. This was not a great sacrifice, since the method works well with most mild-flavored fish - and skate can be hard to find.

We like to serve it over orzo, a pasta about the size and shape of rice grains. There is no particular reason that I can think of for orzo specifically, and any pasta would do.

Tilapia Grenobloise

tilapia (or fish) filet, a half pound or so for two people
2 Tbs of butter
2 Tbs olive oil
1/3 - 1/2 cup capers, depending on how much you like capers
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/2 to 2 Tbs lemon juice
salt and pepper

I like to use a mixture of olive oil and butter for this dish, it gives one a bit more leeway with cooking times and temperatures without worrying too much about burning the butter. So heat the oil and butter over medium high until the foam dies down a bit. Salt and pepper both sides of the fish and add to the skillet. Cook for six or eight minutes, turning once or twice, until the fish is just about done. (If you are making orzo, this is also just about the time it takes for the pasta, so start the pasta, then put the fish in.)

When the fish (and pasta) are just about done, add the capers and the parsley. Then add the lemon juice. The amount of lemon juice is both a matter of personal taste and of the intended use of the sauce. If you are going to use it as a pasta sauce, you'll need a bit more lemon juice than if you are just going to sauce the fish. (For that matter, if you're just saucing the fish, you probably ought to use less parsley and fewer capers.) Also, if you like lemon juice, you'll use more than you will if you don't.

[In the skillet] Stir the sauce around the fish and bring it up to just a simmer. Then kill the heat. Drain the pasta, if you're doing pasta, and plate the fish onto the pasta, topping liberally with sauce. If you're not serving with pasta, plate according to your own idiosyncratic taste.

The Aspiring Luddite