Ahh...Tilapia My Friend, It's Been Too Long

Tonight's excursion was a breaded tilapia, topped with a lime-cilantro vinaigrette.  This was on a bed of cannellini beans with bacon, garlic, and roasted red peppers.  This meal was even better than I was expecting.  The golden crispy fish with the citrus pop from the vinaigrette was wonderful.  Accompanying this was the earthy flavor of the beans with a hint of smoke from the bacon.  Definitely worth a try on this one.

The fish, as I said, was tilapia.  Friends, if you enjoy white fish and have not tried tilapia, it is high time you gave it a shot.  It can be a little bland if not seasoned well, but when done correctly it is a firm white fish that is not too fishy...for those of you who are adverse to fish tasting like fish.  To make this recipe worthy of inclusion here, you know there had to be some luxurious aspect to the dish.  I am a big fan of breading, and normally if given the choice I prefer Panko bread crumbs.  In this case though, I decided to use fresh bread crumbs made from brioche (which is a deliciously dense egg bread made with tons of butter), and excellent choice if I do say so myself.  Then I pan fried it until crispy and golden brown.

The cannellini beans started with bacon of course...you didn't think I would make a dish without some type of deliciously flavorful fat component, did you?  So I crisped the bacon in a bit of olive oil.  Then added minced garlic and a medium yellow onion.  Once these had sauteed a bit, I tossed in the the beans and let them go for a couple of minutes.  Add chicken stock and roasted red peppers and boil lightly until reduced by half.

The vinaigrette was simply lime juice, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cilantro, and olive oil.

This is definitely worth the effort friends, give it a shot.

Here is the finished product: 

Enjoy...