By now you’ve heard a few stories of how I’ve changed now that I’m a 30 year old, and it’s time for another. I feel it’s appropriate to talk about being 30 for at least a year before people can tell me to shut up; today is even better because it’s one of my oldest friend’s 30th birthday today (old as in, she’s been my friend since we were teeny tots, not old as in my eldest friend, because actually, she’s the last of our high school friend group to turn 30)- Happy Birthday Meghan, welcome to 30, it’s not so bad!
So anyway, back to me, when you’re 30, I feel like you’re a legit adult, and legit adults buy meat from the butcher counter, not from the freezer at the grocery store. Whenever I buy meat from the butcher I feel sophisticated and adulty, I realize this is not an actual representation of a legit adult, and that plenty of legit adults buy meat from the frozen section. So I’m talking about tilapia, I’ve always bought the individually packaged tilapia filets that come in a big frozen bag, and I’ve made a lot of good tilapia dishes with them. Then I turned 30 and tried tilapia filets from the butcher counter and holy wow they were big and fat and didn’t shrink up to nothing when I baked them- amazing! So this is what I used in this super easy sesame soy tilapia recipe.
Once again, it’s from Cooking Light, December 2016. They call it ‘gift wrapped sesame-soy tilapia’ I love it, because it really is like a gift wrapped meal, you put everything in a piece of tin foil and bake it in the oven, no dishes, no clean up! Voila! As I sit here and think about it, it’s not too different from the way I used to make tilapia, with my green beans and fish in a small glass baking dish…turns out I could have saved a dish!
I forgot to take an ingredients picture, sorry. So we’ll start here:
Put the veggies you choose (I used snow peas, red bell pepper, and cabbage- Cooking Light suggested matcstick carrots) in a bowl. Whisk together the sesame oil and lime juice. Pour the oil and juice over the veggies and toss until all the veggies are evenly coated.
Lay out a sheet of tin foil (about 14 inches long), put about 1 cup of the veggie mixture in the middle of the foil, put a tilapia filet on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with soy sauce.
A couple of notes on what I used: the “adult” fillets at Cub are nice and big, so I could actually cut them in half- so that 2 fillets makes 4 servings. I also find this a great use of all those extra soy sauce packs you get when you order Chinese food 🙂 I stick them in the fridge and use them in times like this where you need a couple tablespoons! Brilliant, I know.
Fold up the tin foil hot dog style (or like you would wrap a gift) and then fold the ends, so you have a nice pouch of tinfoil. Repeat with your remaining veggies and fillets.
(not to confuse anyone, but in this picture I didn’t wrap the ends up yet, you’ll want to do that, so you have a nicely sealed pouch)
Put all your little pouches on a baking sheet and stick in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. You’ll know the tilapia is done when it flakes easily with a fork. Sprinkle the fish with some sesame seeds (recipe called for toasted, who has time to toast sesame seeds?! not me.)
You can either eat in from your tin foil pouch and really create no dishes, or you can slide everything out onto a plate, like I did for the picture. (side note: red cabbage WILL stain your fish purple…)
Super easy, super yummy Asian flavors, healthy low carb and lots of veggies- it’s a guilt free easy meal! Winning.
- 2 full tilapia filets (cut in half for 4 pieces)
- 4 cups shredded cabbage
- 1 cup snow peas
- 1 bell pepper (red, orange or yellow) thinly sliced
- 1T lime juice
- 2T sesame oil
- 8 t soy sauce
- salt and pepper
- sesame seeds
- Whisk together the sesame oil and lime juice, pour over the veggies in a large bowl, toss until all veggies are coated
- Lay out a 14 inch piece of tin foil, place about 1 cup of the veggies in the center, place a tilapia filet on top
- Drizzle the filet with soy sauce and sprinkle on salt and pepper
- Fold the tin foil length wise then fold the ends, like wrapping a present, so you have a sealed pouch
- Put all the tinfoil pouches on a baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
- The fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds and more lime juice if desired.
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