Tilapia in Butter Parsley Sauce

Okay, so the title is decadent much? Yeah, that’s before you taste the fish! 😉 . I’m always looking for a new way to make a tasty fish dish and I find that even a little butter goes a long way. Its indefinable flavor adds such richness of taste that one small pat thrown in to the pan elevates the dish from mundane to sublime.

This is really a very simple recipe and doesn’t take long to prepare, the length of cooking time depends on the thickness of the fish but within twenty minutes you can have this on the table.

If you pair this with bulgur as a side, your whole meal can be thrown together in the same time (just put burgul up first and it’ll be done by the time the fish is. The recipe for burgul is here: https://kosherfromjerusalem.com/2018/03/18/the-joys-of-bulgur-or-burgul-or-cracked-wheat/

Although this is simple to make, it’s elegant and you are adding a little white wine, lemon juice, salt, crushed garlic, chopped parsley, grated ginger (optional) and, of course, the butter.

First wash off and pat dry your tilapia fillets. Set aside. Assemble your sauce ingredients and put your frying pan on the burner (unlit) and put in the white wine, lemon juice, parsley (either fresh chopped or frozen chopped) crushed garlic and (optional) a small grating of ginger or a small cube of grated frozen ginger and salt.

Turn on the fire on low and let sauce simmer gently till all ingredients have melded a bit. Then, lay the fish fillets on top of the sauce.

Then, once the sauce is simmering on low, put a cover on the pan, tilting it so it’s not tightly sealed.

The above cover is a bit too big for the pan so I didn’t need to tilt it. But you get the idea.

Cook the fish for about 8 minutes and using a fish spatula (a longer than normal slotted spatula which enables you to pick up the whole fillet slice so it doesn’t crack. Worth getting if you haven’t already) gently flip the fillet. If you are afraid it won’t flip well, use another spatula from the top to help you flip it.

Cook for approximately another 8 minutes but DO peek to make sure it’s not overcooking.

This fish should be plated and not served company style (all on one big platter) since you want it to keep its shape and you then spoon some sauce over it.

This goes well with bulgur, rice (brown or white) and is a fine meal to regale company with or even a delish dinner for little ol’ you.

Tilapia in Butter Parsley Sauce

A package of Tilapia fillets (I can only find frozen but if you can get fresh more power to you) about 3-4 large fillets, washed and patted dry

1 clove crushed garlic or one cube frozen crushed garlic

1/3 cup white wine

1/2 teaspoon grated ginger or small cube frozen grated ginger (optional) I’ve made this both ways, sometimes I’m in a ginger mood and sometimes not, it adds a bit of a kick

scant teaspoon salt

Parsely a small bunch, washed, dried and finely chopped or a big cube of frozen chopped parsely

juice of half a small lemon

1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Take a non stick frying pan large enough to hold the fillets and put in all the sauce ingredients, the white wine, lemon juice, garlic, salt, parsley, crushed garlic and butter. Turn on the burner and cook on low simmer till butter melts and sauce starts to come together.

Gently lay the fillets down in the pan in the sauce. Keep on low, cover with lid tilted to the side (or as I did, with a cover that was a bit too big so steam could escape). Cook about 8 minutes and with fish spatula (see explanation above) and if needed another spatula on top to form a “sandwich” gently flip fish and cook additional 8 minutes on other side, covered.

The fish will turn opaque and should be cooked just right without it overcooking, so peek at it to check.

Plate fish and spoon some sauce on top. This goes well with bulgur or rice.