Lemon Tilapia

Farm Fresh



Catfish has long been a standard food in Southern homes. Typically breaded and deep-fried, it's been a ready source of free protein for generations of poor Southerners. Then in the 1960s people began raising catfish in ponds as a commercial enterprise and chefs began exploring Southern regional cooking and its popularity has both increased and spread beyond the South.

But I'm not here to talk about catfish because I don't like catfish. I do like tilapia.

Tilapia has long been a standard food in the area now constituting Israel where it has been farmed for around 2500 years. Like catfish and trout, it's now being farmed in the US and its popularity is growing.

I've no idea how the Israelis fix it, but I treat it like any white-fleshed fish such as flounder or sole. The primary difference being that tilapia filets are thicker and denser and so not well-suited for rolling up stuffings. I've broiled it, sauteed it, cooked it in parchment, and included it in chowders and stews. It even makes an excellent choice for fish and chips.

I'll do the fish and chips (and maybe a chocolate shake) later. This evening I fixed a recipe from the March 2005 issue of Fine Cooking. The recipe calls for sole, but I substituted tilapia resulting in:

Lemony Tilapia with Capers & Croutons in Brown Butter Sauce

4 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 slice white bread -- cut into 1/4" cubes
salt and black pepper
1 1/2 ea medium lemons
4 ea tilapia (or sole) filets
all purpose flour for dredging
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp capers
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Heat oven to 200F.

Melt 1 1/2 tbsp butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add bread cubes and cook, stirring and tossing, until cubes are a golden brown -- three to five minutes. Set aside on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt.

Segment whole lemon by using a paring knife to cut off top and bottom and then the peel. Cut out the lemon segments and add juice squeezed from lemon half.

Lightly season both sides of the filets with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Cook two filets until light golden -- about two minutes -- flip over and cook another two minutes. Place on a plate in the oven and cook next two filets.

Wipe out the skillet and melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat, swirling the pan until the butter turns a medium brown. Remove from heat and add lemon segment, juice, capers, and parsley. Season to taste. Drizzle over fish and garnish with croutons. Serves four.

I served this with steamed artichokes. For the dipping sauce I melted 3 tablespoons of butter over low heat and added a small, crushed garlic clove and a sprig of crushed fresh lavender. Once the flavors from the garlic and lavender had had time to steep I added a couple of tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and seasoned it with salt.