Oven Roasted Asian Tilapia: On my dream kitchen

To the entire R family, who provided more than lodging.

I spent this past weekend in a suburb of Dallas, Texas visiting best friend CJR.  I took Son and Daughter alone on an airplane and spent five days in Texas in a huge house with a BEAUTIFUL kitchen.

This kitchen is royalty compared to my servant level kitchen.  It is beautiful appointed with gorgeous details and lots of features I love (that beautiful kitchen aid burner with the pot filler being one of them).  I loved the spacing, the organization, and the space of the kitchen and although CJR told me NOT to cook and just watch her cook, I said. "Fat chance you're going to cook in your kitchen and I'm not."  She laughed not knowing how serious I was.  We spent a two days laughing in that space and working side by side having fun.  I don't know if we cooked more or laughed more but definitely we did a lot of something. 

On Saturday, we awoke and I started the day making some vegan domuffins.  A little later, with best friend, we began mapping out our food for the day.  I wanted the kids to eat at home at least one meal and she agreed.  I raided the fridge, and I persuaded her to give me some time to cook in the kitchen to free her up to go to the supermarket.  She agreed, and mentally I rubbed my hands back and forth with glee; I was going to really really enjoy cooking in this space by myself and I was going to make the most of it.  (insert maniacal laughter here.)  I made bean and corn relish, Korean radish soup, and this fish dish.  I cooked alone in that beautiful space and initially it felt amazing, cooking in a space like that.  But soon, as the cooking got under way, it became obvious that cooking was very much exactly the same as in my kitchen.  I still had to chop, and prep and do everything and nothing in her kitchen was going to make that go faster.  Although I felt fancier in that space, it wasn't any easier or any more fun than cooking in my 1960 original kitchen.  The only thing that seemingly made cooking go faster in that kitchen was having my friend by my side to laugh at my jokes and to find the humor in our daily lives.  Without that, it was nothing special.

This is a fish dish that I whipped out while alone in the kitchen.  It is better enjoyed with a table full of people over being alone.  It is simple to execute and really simple to enjoy...serve with rice and a group of friends to laugh with.

Oven Roasted Asian Tilapia
Serves 5 to 6 people

Ingredients
2-3 lbs tilapia fillets (about 6-8 pieces)
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sake
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped scallions
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
Thinly sliced scallion and cilantro sprigs for garnish

Method
Move oven rack to the top, as close to the heating element as possible. Preheat oven to 500. Line a broiling pan or flat cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

In a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, vegetable oil, sake, ginger, scallions, cilantro. Set aside.

Place fillets in a single layer on cookie sheet. Sprinkle each piece with a dash of salt and pepper. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of sauce on each fillets, distributing evenly. Reserve remaining sauce to drizzle on top of fish later. Cook in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until fish is opaque and slightly firm to the touch.

Drizzle with more of the sauce mixture and then garnish with scallions and cilantro. Serve with hot rice.

Printable recipe