Friday, September 4, 2009

Foodie Friday: Buttered Tilapia & Semillon Wine


Hosted by Gollum, foodie friday is a fun way to experience food from a different perspective. I love sharing my recipes and reading what others have posted as well. Stop by Designs by Gollum to see more.

My recipe for today is a favorite of ours. My son, now in college, made this one last time before we took him to school this week. Tilapia is a mild fish, not very fishy tasting but delicious. We first read about this recipe on AllRecipes.com. However, we've made just a few changes based on what we like to arrive at this Very Easy meal. Mostly, we love the way the butter makes the fish taste and feel so we increased the amount of butter. Tried making it with Olive Oil but it just wasn't the same.

Ingredients:

1 lb Fresh Tilapia
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup butter (not margarine)
1/4 cup Parsley
1 large garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste

Start by rinsing your fresh Tilapia under cool water. Pat dry with a paper towel and place in a 9X13 pan.



Mash or mince your garlic and spread over the fish.


Drizzle with 1/2 lemon's juice & melted butter.


Sprinkle with parsley, salt and pepper.


Bake uncovered in middle rack, at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. Fish is done when it flakes separates easily with a fork.


Done!!


We serve this dish with a Mushroom & Onion Risotto and our favorite garden salad which is topped with Havarti cheese, almonds, and craisins. A great wine with this meal is featured below. Although the kids don't get the wine, they get the apple juice or water, it was a great way to say farewell to our college bound son.


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Now here's Neil from On The Grapevine to share some more interesting facts about wine. This particular one goes well with my Buttered Tilapia.


Semillon is my favourite white wine. The grape is used in France as a blending component to make the dry white wines of Bordeaux but more famously it is used in the production of the sweet dessert wines of Sauterne eg. Chateau d’Yquem.


In Australia it is also used to make both styles but predominantly as a single varietal wine although it is sometimes blended with Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. I have never found much Semillon in the USA, either locally made or imported, but in my opinion it is well worth seeking out.


The most famous Australian Semillon comes from the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. Usually of low alcohol (10-11%) and unwooded, when young it is a crisp dry wine smelling of apples, grass/hay and tasting of citrus. However on aging, the same wine develops into a full flavoured toasty, honeyed wine that is now considered a classic Australian wine style.


In other areas of the country it is allowed to ripen more thus producing wines of higher alcohol, more body and with flavours more like tropical fruit, passion fruit and figs. These wines are also more conducive to the wine maker’s input so many are either barrel fermented, left for a time on the lees, allowed to go through malolactic fermentation or barrel aging (or a combination of all or some).


All these processes increase the complexity of the wine adding creamy, buttery and nutty tones to aroma and flavour.


A dry Semillon is great with any seafood, pasta dish or white meat but is just as acceptable to be drunk by itself outside, with feet up, on a warm summer’s day.


Enjoy!

4 comments:

  1. Rhonda @ Shellbelle's Tiki HutSeptember 5, 2009 at 6:06 AM

    This recipe looks yummy, we buy Tilapia quite often and I'm always looking for new ways to serve it.

    Good luck on your move to Cuba, I look forward to reading about your experience.

    BTW, I noticed that you don't have a lot of comments and I just wanted to let you know that it took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to sign in using CommentLuv and I'm very computer savvy. This may be a deterrent to others. You have a very interesting blog and I'm sure there are many who would like to leave their thoughts. Have a great day!

    Just in case this gets through, I'm going to add that now it will not let me submit my comment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rhonda @ Shellbelle's Tiki HutSeptember 5, 2009 at 6:10 AM

    Okay, I finally figured out that in order for me to leave my comment, I had to uncheck the CommentLuv box on the comment form. I believe if you can fix this or go back to the regular blogger way, more people will leave comments on your wonderful blog. Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much for letting me know. I was starting to feel unloved by the blogosphere!! I thought having commentluv would be cool for people who visit but its more of a problem so it's gone!! Some things don't need change :-) ThankYou!

    Recent blog:=- Foodie Friday: Buttered Tilapia & Semillon Wine

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  4. Love fish and wine... sounds good to moi!

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