Tilapia with Balsamic Butter Sauce

This is the first time that I have cooked fish... ever! I am definitely not a seafood fan. I don't like shrimp, lobster, crab and almost every fish (except tuna from sushi). I guess I did eat fish sticks when I was younger but all I can remember is hating fish. However, as I am getting older I am becoming more aware of the advantages of eating fish- especially for infant brain growth. No, I am not pregnant nor will be for at least two years (despite the fact that two of my aides at my school thought I was/dreamed I was). I guess that is what happens after you get married. However, I know that you really need to eat fish while your pregnant to help with brain growth, so I am trying to start to eat it now and learn to like it.

I went with the most bland fish I could get, tilapia. I wasn't planning on cooking it that day, but when I typed in recipes I found that I could make it with the extra sugar snap peas that I had (which I used in 3 separate recipes because the bag was from Costco and huge) along with some random potatoes. The sauce was super good. I think you could have put it on anything and it would have been wonderful. I wish I had made more, but I used up all of my balsamic vinegar making it!

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

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

3 lbs of potatoes (russet, red, gold, whatever you have available)

3 Tbs butter

1/4 cup milk

1 Tbs dried thyme (or 1 1/2 Tbs fresh)

3 garlic cloves

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves (minced)

3 Tbs butter

2 cups of sugar snap peas, trimmed

2 Tbs olive oil

6 tilapia fillets

Turn oven to 375 degrees. Poke holes in potatoes and roast whole until soft (around 45 minutes). Take out and place in food mill. Turn food mill to mash potatoes. Add butter, milk, thyme and sauteed garlic to the potatoes. Mix. Season with salt and pepper. You can make this ahead of time.

Boil a small pot of water. Drop peas in and boil for 1 minute. Drain and put the peas to the side.

Heat 1 Tbs of oil in a large skillet. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper then saute fish until golden (around 2 min per side)

Simmer vinegar and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat until the vinegar has reduced to a thick syrup (around 5 minutes). Whisk in butter, small pieces at a time, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Place some potatoes, tilapia and peas on a plate and drizzle with sauce.

Hoppin' John

So, why start a food blog during one of the most busy times of my life? I'm the head Special Olympics soccer coach for our school, it is 1 month into the school year, I'm heading a huge service learning project, and drowning in IEP paper work... I have to do something to get myself away from work.

I've been cooking for the past 3 years, but only in the last few months have I been making dishes and sharing them with anyone other than my husband (which is weird to write since we just got married after 10 years of being together and 13 years of knowing each other). People in my family were so impressed with my dishes that I have been sending them recipes for the past few weeks. This is one way to make it easier to get to them. I also love food blogs. The fact that I cant eat, or wont eat, most of the food on them is funny. I have a very specific diet, that is why the blog is called "What Can You Eat?" because there are so few things that I can eat. 4 years ago I developed Gastroparesis, a condition where my stomach does not contract any more, so that food just sits in it for hours. A year ago it we finally found a cause... allergies. However all the tests say that I'm not allergic to anything! However I have found, through elimination diets, that I have strong allergic reactions to gluten and cola nut. So between the allergies, not being able to digest heavy foods, and being a picky eater... you end up with a very interesting collection of food.

I wish I could say my first post is some amazing dish.... I made one the day before, but didn't take pictures...so this is the dish you get! I got this Hoppin' John recipe from Seriouseats.com. I have found in the past two weeks that eating vegetarian makes me feel alot better. Meat is very hard to digest. However, I have been a self-proclaimed carnivore since age 5 and eating just vegetables kinda freaks me out! I am trying though.

I found the dish to be a bit bland when I followed the recipe from seriouseats.com so I increased the spices in this recipe. Enjoy!

Hoppin' John

From Serious Eats

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup medium or long-grain rice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 (20-ounce) bag frozen black-eyed peas
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup beer
• 3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• Chopped scallions
• Halved grape tomatoes

Heat a bit of olive oil. Cook your onions and garlic for around 5 minutes until soft. Add your rice and stir it frequently for 1 minute to roast it. Then add the paprika and stir it for around 30 seconds until it is fragrant. Add your frozen peas, water, beer, chile and salt. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 25 minutes without disturbing. After 25 minutes, check rice for doneness. Mixture should be moist, but not soupy. If mixture appears dry, add additional liquid, 1 tablespoon at a time, folding gently with a wooden spoon after each addition until desired consistency is reached, up to 1 additional cup liquid. Return lid and allow to cook for additional 5 minutes. Season to taste with soy sauce. Serve immediately, topping with scallions and tomatoes.