Broiled Tilapia with Frisee-Apple Salad & Mustard-Parsley Sauce

Winter in the midwest leads to lots of warm, rich comfort foods to our table.  Nothing beats the chill and nourishes like a serving of baked mac-n-cheese or guinness beef stew.  But all that rich goodness can leave us feeling a little heavy.  Meaning it is time to bring salads back to the dinner menu rotation.

This broiled tilapia and apple salad was just what we needed.  It is sooo good, not to mention healthy and fast making it a perfect dinner option after a long busy day.  It is seriously good eats.  The dressing works nicely with the tilapia and the salad.  The recipe said to put the fish on top of the salad so we did... but I think that next I will put it on the side as that would be my personal preference.  It also called for arugula, frisee and mint to make the salad; we just used a spring greens salad mix (frisee seems to never be available at our local shops).

Broiled Tilapia with Frisee-Apple Salad
& Mustard-Parsley Sauce

Adapted from Cooking Light, Serves 2

Fish

• 1 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tilapia fillets
• olive oil
• fresh ground black pepper & salt

Salad

• 1/2 bag spring greens salad (or arugula & frisee)
• 1  Gala apple, thinly sliced
• 1/2  tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1  tablespoons sour cream
• 1 1/2 tsp whole-grain Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp olive oil

Combine 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon salt, and sugar in a shallow dish. Add fillets, and let stand 15 minutes. Remove fillets from brine; pat dry. Discard brine. Brush fillets with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Preheat broiler.

Place fillets on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; broil 7 minutes or until done.

Combine apple and 1/2 tablespoon oil; toss well. Add apple and a pinch of salt to salad in a large bowl, toss gently.

Combine remaining 1 1/2 tsp olive oil, pinch of salt, parsley, mustard, lemon juice and sour cream, stirring with a whisk until blended.

Divide salad mixture onto plates; top each serving with 1 fillet (or set along side). Drizzle salad dressing over each serving.

Enjoy!

~ Tara

Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette

Salads are a staple in our house for week day meals.  We have salad at least twice a week as they are healthy and quick to prepare after a day... plus when it is super-hot like it has been for the past week then you don't heat up the house!  All that salad adds up to lots of salad dressing purchases.  We have found that our favorite salad dressings are the Greek Vinaigrette and the Balsamic Vinaigrette.

The other night we set out to make our salad but realized that were out of dressing... time to improvise!  I have always heard that salad dressings and vinaigrette are quite simple but we just hadn't gotten around to experimenting with them yet.  But with dinner waiting there was no time like the present to whip up a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

And wow is it worth it!  A few dashes of this and that and a little flick of the whisk and you suddenly have the perfect compliment to a light summer meal.  I am planning to reuse a jar (thinking green!) to keep this vinaigrette on hand during the week.  We used it the following night as a marinade for chicken and it added a wonderful flavor.  Definitely a keeper.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Adapted from Epicurious

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix the vinegar, mustard, honey, and garlic in a small bowl.  Whisk in the oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

- Tara