I finally got around to updating my blogrolls on the right. It’s funny how I just forget how to do things just because I haven’t done them in a while.
There is a heat wave going in the Mid-west and Eastern Seaboard right now, today during the early evening, Toronto was 94°F* or 32°C with relatively high humidity. It’s actually quite unbearable, but I won’t complain because it will be winter very soon and that’s a lot worse in my books!
It’s actually too hot to eat outdoors so we use our festive chargers and lovely colourful napkins and pretended to be outside. We’re just back from our Illinois/Wisconsin trip to visit our good friends Paul and T and we need to buckle down and start eating right again so all our hard work in April doesn’t go to waste (or waist!). Tonight we’re having Tilapia and I wanted something a little different so I sat down and thought about it. Several years ago, I purchased a small bottle of porcini dust for a small fortune. The porcini dust is long gone, but the idea stuck in my head — why couldn’t I make my own porcini dust? So I did just that but I also added a couple of dried morels for good measure. An entire crust of fungi would be a bit too earthy for such a delicate fish, so I augmented it with ground walnuts, which turned out to be a perfect combo. And the walnuts helped crust it up nicely. We pan fried it on the BBQ to avoid turning on the oven. I hope you enjoy this Kitcheninspirations original.
It was so hot outside tonight that the fish almost cooked without the BBQ!
Walnut, Morel and Porcini Crusted Tilapia
a Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Serves 4 (2 dinners and 2 lunches in our case)
Ingredients:
- 8 g dehydrated porcini mushrooms
- 4 g dehydrated morels
- 2 g granulated garlic
- 8 g dehydrated onion
- 2 g maldon sea salt
- 20 g walnuts
- 400 g tilapia (or another firm white fish)
- Greens, tomatoes and cucumbers
Directions:
- In a dedicated savoury coffee grinder, add the fungi, garlic, onions, and sea salt. Grind until it is finely ground. Add the walnuts and grind them into the mix, a slightly coarser texture (mine was a little too fine). The walnuts are a bit oily, so you’ll need the dryer ingredients to balance off the oiliness.
- Dry off the tilapia and spoon the mixture onto each side, pressing it into the fish.
- Heat a cast iron pan on the BBQ until sizzling, spray with non-stick spray. Add each piece of fish (I would do the same thicknesses at one time) and cook until it is opaque. It took the thicker parts about 5 minutes each side and the thinner parts about 3 minutes each side.
- Serve over an easy salad of greens, tomatoes and cucumbers.
- Dress with a warm white balsamic mushroom dressing (posted here).
- Enjoy.
The walnut complimented the earthiness of the fungi very well.
*For my faux pas, having Metric before Imperial measures on Independence Day. Am I forgiven? 😉
And I’ll leave you with this single thought.
Kitcheninspirations 