I'm on a seafood diet. I see food and eat it. HA!

Agnes wanted to have fish for dinner tonight. She loves fish. I am not talking about breaded fish sticks (well, who doesn't like those) but really fish. She will eat halibut, salmon, tilapia, cod, basa, and all sorts of other seafood. The other night she ate a plate of squid and razor clams. She is such a cool kid!!

Our Safeway here is having a sale on fresh tilapia for 3.99 a pound. Yeah, it doesn't get any cheaper than that. In Denver we were lucky to get it for 10.00 or so. The seafood here is so CHEAP! So, Agnes and I decided to make:

Tilapia with Balsamic Butter Sauce, Thyme Mashed Potatoes, and Sugar Snap Peas

Thyme mashed potatoes
3 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, quartered
4 1/2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
6 tablespoons (or more) warm whipping cream
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme

Balsamic butter sauce
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups sugar snap peas, strings removed

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 4- to 5-ounce tilapia fillets

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

For thyme mashed potatoes:
Boil potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain; return to pot. Add butter, 6 tablespoons cream, and thyme; mash. Season with salt and pepper. Do ahead Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm over medium heat, stirring often and adding more cream by tablespoonfuls if dry.

For balsamic butter sauce:
Simmer vinegar and garlic in small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to thick syrup, about 5 minutes. Set aside.Cook snap peas in boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 1 minute. Drain. Return to same pan; set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in each of 2 large skillets over high heat. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Sauté fish until golden, about 2 minutes per side.
Rewarm balsamic syrup over medium-low heat. Whisk in 3/4 cup butter 1 piece at a time.
Divide potatoes, tilapia, and peas among plates; drizzle with sauce.


I put the mashers on the plate, a piece of tilapia on top, drizzled the sauce on top and served the sugar snap peas on the side .

OMG! It was so good. The sauce is freaking awesome! I wanted to lick my plate clean. Agnes cleaned her plate. She kept moaning "mmmmm, fish good, mmmm".

The masher took the most time. If you grabbed some premade mashers from your deli or even the ones in the refrigerator cases at your grocery store this meal would take 10 minutes from start to finish. I sprinkled our sugar snap peas with some sea salt and tossed them in a Ziploc zip & steam bags (I can't live without these things) for about 3 minutes and they were perfect.

You must try this dinner!

My Kitchen, My World - Puerto Rico

This week we travel to Puerto Rico for My Kitchen, My World. Agnes decided we were having fish for dinner. So we made Grilled Fish with Sofrito Sauce and Plátanos Asados.It was extremely easy and quick to put together. This will definitely go into our dinner rotation.




Grilled Fish with Sofrito Sauce and Plátanos Asados

Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
1 underripe plantain
1/8 teaspoon salt, divided
2 (6-ounce) grouper fillets (about 1/2 inch thick) (I couldn't find grouper anywhere here in Portland so I used halibut instead)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
½ cup Sofrito Sauce
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
Chopped cilantro (optional)
1 green plantain

Sofrito Sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup diced onion
½ cup seeded & diced green bell pepper
7 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano
Blend everything in a blender or food processors.

Cut plantain in half lengthwise; cut each half crosswise into 2 pieces. Spray plantain pieces with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until golden and slightly soft. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Drizzle fish with lime juice; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt and minced cilantro. Grill 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Top fish and plantains with sofrito sauce and sour cream, and serve with plantain pieces. Garnish with chopped cilantro.


**I had to borrow a picture from http://www.elboricua.com/. I took pictures of dinner tonight but when I went to download them I realized I hadn't put the memory card back in the camera. Whoops! It was still sitting in memory card reader from when I downloaded pictures of my Dachshund cupcakes. LOL

My Kitchen, My World - Morocco

This week in My Kitchen, My World, Judy of Judy's Gross Eats chose Morocco.
What a fun challenge. There are so many spice combinations with Moroccan cooking. Too bad I couldn't get Sean to do a belly dance for me before dinner!!


I didn't get a chance to take photos but we had Fish Tagine with Peppers and Olives served with couscous.

Moroccan Fish Tagine With Peppers And Olives

Serves 4.

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1/8 teaspoon crushed saffron threads
4 6-ounce white fish fillets (such as halibut or orange roughy)
1 pound carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 medium-size red bell pepper, seeded, cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips
24 brine-cured olives (such as Kalamata)
Additional Chopped fresh Italian parsley

Mix first 7 ingredients in medium bowl. Add fish and turn to coat. Refrigerate 2 hours, turning fish occasionally.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Arrange carrot slices over bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Layer half of tomatoes, half of onion and half of lemon over. Season with half of salt and pepper.
Drain marinade from fish; reserve marinade.
Arrange fish atop lemon slices. Top fish with remaining tomato, onion and lemon slices. Season with remaining salt and pepper. Top decoratively with red pepper strips and olives. Pour reserved marinade over. Cover dish with foil. Bake 40 minutes.
Increase oven temperature to 400°F.
and bake until fish flakes easily and vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Garnish with additionally parsley.

Arrange fish atop lemon slices. Top fish with remaining tomato, onion and lemon slices. Season with remaining salt and pepper. Top decoratively with red pepper strips and olives. Pour reserved marinade over. Cover dish with foil. Bake 40 minutes.
Increase oven temperature to 400°F.
and bake until fish flakes easily and vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Garnish with additionally parsley.