With spring upon us, I’ve been turning my date night meal thoughts to seafood.  For me, the lighter fare seems to fit with the growing southern heat, instead of the heavy dishes I tend to gravitate towards in the fall and winter.  Also, I’m really trying to adjust my diet so that it’s more heavily weighted toward something healthier.  And when I find something that’s both tasty & reasonably healthy, I’m totally stoked since I get that gourmet meal feeling without the guilt of loading up on calories.

I also recently acquired an old counter-top electric grill and I’ve been wanting a good excuse to try it out.  So tonight, fish is back on the menu, specifically tilapia.  Easy to find, versatile, not fishy & relatively inexpensive is a combination that’s hard to beat.  We’re pairing the tilapia with asparagus and for dessert a bistro style dish of roasted pears and blackberries served with Greek yogurt.  Part of this meal is a slight variation of a Bobby Flay recipe and the other I ran across in Bon Appétit, served with my own twist.

Tonight’s Menu

Entreé: Grilled Tilapia with Lemon Butter and Capers, served over a bed of Orzo
Side Dish: Grilled Asparagus with Caper Vinaigrette
Beverage: with Savignon Blanc and, of course, La Croix sparkling water
Dessert: Roasted Pears & Berries, served with Greek Yogurt

The Flow

There are a couple “make in advance” parts to this recipe (my make in advance means before diner while Laree’s getting the kids to bed):  the lemon butter and the vinaigrette.  You’ll probably want to start with the lemon butter since it will need to spend some time on the stove.

You’ll also need a dessert strategy for this meal.  Since this is something you’re going to want to serve hot, you’ll need to decide if you want dessert cooking while you’re eating or if you want to wait and cook this after dinner.  It takes about an hour, mostly cooking time in the oven, so plan accordingly.

This is one of those meals in which there’s a lot going on even though it goes pretty fast, so it really helps to do some ingredient prep up front.  In preparation for cooking, take a stick of unsalted butter and cut it up and leave it out to warm to room temperature.  Go ahead and wash 4 tilapia fillets and pat dry and lay them out in a casserole dish or on a plate big enough to hold them.  Put that out of the way or in the fridge.  Chop up 1/4 cup of fresh parsley leaves as fine as you like & set aside.  This will get mixed in with the orzo for a nice contrast.   Drain 1/2 cup capers and set aside in a ramekin.  Drain another 2 tablespoons of them for the vinaigrette.  Trim enough asparagus for the meal and lay it out on a plate or something that you can pour oil over.  It’s really good so err on the generous side.  Organize your other ingredients.

Zest 1 lemon (I managed about a tablespoon and a half), juice it and one other and chop up a small shallot and combine, along with 1/2 cup white wine (I used the same Savignon we were drinking) in a saucepan cook over high heat until it’s reduced to about half.  Bring it to a medium boil since the highest heat will cause the liquid to froth up and you’ll have lemon zest all over the sides of your saucepan.

While that’s cooking whisk up the vinaigrette by taking 3 Tbs of white wine vinegar, 2 Tsp of Dijon mustard, 1/2 Tsp salt, 1/4 Tsp of (preferrably fresh ground) black pepper in a small bowl, then add 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of olive oil until it’s well mixed and stir in 2 tablespoons of drained capers.  Mix it up real good 🙂 and put the bowl in the fridge to chill.

If the lemon juice & wine mixture hasn’t reduced yet, go ahead and get a larger pot ready to boil the orzo.  If it has, take the saucepan off of the burner to let it cool.  10-15 minutes is fine. Then whisk together a couple tablespoons of heavy cream, the stick of butter and the wine mixture in a small bowl and season with salt & pepper.  Be careful, it splashes if you’re stirring it with a whisk.  Then stick it in the freezer to chill quickly.  Make sure the pot for the orzo is on and heating up and cook the orzo as soon as the water is ready.

Heat the grill to high heat.  I’m assuming you’re using a non-stick grill, but if not or if you’re grilling outside on a BBQ, you’ll want a fish basket for this so your fillets don’t tear up.  Brush the fish on both sides with olive oil and season with salt & pepper.  Toss the asparagus with the canola oil and season with salt & pepper.  Get the vinaigrette out of the fridge, make sure the colander is close at hand for the orzo, get the lemon butter out of the freezer so it can start to warm back up & get plates ready…

We’re going to go quickly from grill to plate.  When the orzo is cooked al dente (about 8 minutes), drain and toss with 3-4 tablespoons of the lemon butter, the parsley and some salt & pepper.  Grill the tilapia fillets 3-4 minutes on each side until they have a nice char pattern or are lightly golden.  Also, grill the asparagus until tender.  It will probably take about as long as the fish.  Plate the meal by making a bed of the orzo and placing the fillets on top.  Top each fillet with some of the lemon butter and some capers.  Serve the asparagus drizzled with the vinaigrette and scoop some capers over as well (they tend to sink to the bottom).  Serve with the beverage of your choice.  I suggest a sparkling water & glass of savignon blanc.

Dessert

The original recipe for this is from the March 2011 Bon Appétit, but I modified it a bit since I liked the concept, but not the actual recipe in the magazine.

Mix the sugar and the vanilla extract until well combined.  You can do this with a bowl and a fork.  Pre-heat the oven to 425°F.  Generously butter a baking sheet or cake pan.  Toss the pears, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of the vanilla butter in a bowl or ziploc bag until well coated.  Place pears, 1 cut side down, in the baking dish & roast for 20 minutes.  Turn pears to the other side down, sprinkle with 2 more tablespoons and roast another 20 minutes.  Turn pears skin side down, sprinkle with another tablespoon of sugar and broil until they begin to caramelize.  Toss berries with 2 tablespoons sugar, arrange around pears and broil until berries begin to release their juice.

Server pears and berries, with juices, and top with dollop of Greek yogurt.

The Ingredients

Tilapia

Tilapia – 4 fillets, usually about 1-2 lbs
Lemons – 2, zest one of them and juice both of them
Parsley leaves – 1/4 cup
shallot – 1, small, finely chopped
White wine – 1/2 cup
Splash of heavy cream or Half & Half
Butter – 1 stick, unsalted
Olive oil – 3 tablespoons
Capers – 1/4 cup, drained
Orzo – 1/2 lb
Salt & Pepper (preferably freshly ground)

Asparagus

Asparagus – enough to eat, try 1 lb
Olive Oil – 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons
Canola Oil – enough to toss asparagus, try 2 tablespoons
Capers – 2 tablespoons, drained
White Wine Vinegar – 3 tablespoons
Dijon mustard – 2 teaspoons
Salt & Pepper (preferably freshly ground)

Dessert

1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
2 Bosc pears, quartered and cored
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
A handful of frozen berries (Blackberries, Blueberries & Raspberries is common)
Plain Greek Yogurt