You know I’m always trying to jazz up our fish and this was no exception. It was a Tuesday night and I was riding home ‘the better way‘ and trying to figure out what the heck to do with the fish we pulled out of the deep freeze and then it hit me — Grilled Tilapia with Basil Pesto. The pesto would also allow the opportunity to utilize the gorgeous basil growing like weeds on the back deck (I may have planted a few too many plants!).
Tilapia is a firm white fish that is great grilled as long as you don’t over cook it, then it falls apart! I added a bit of hot chili pepper flakes to the top for colour and a bit of punch. It depends if you like heat, like I do. Plus it’s a nice bite with the creamy pesto. I make a classic pesto, but I’m sure you’ve made yours a gazillion times so feel free to improvise, this is, after all for inspiration. Reserve the left over pesto for the dressing for the greens and you’ll notice that I’ve added a little something to make it more like dressing (make sure the spoon you use to spread the pesto on the fish is never put back into the reserved pesto).
Grilled Tilapia with Basil Pesto
Serves 4,
Ingredients:
- 400 g Tilapia
- 2-1/2 cups (625 mL) packed fresh, washed basil leaves
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup (75 mL) toasted pine nuts
- 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) EVOO
- 2 small cloves garlic, finely minced
- 4 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- red chili pepper flakes
- arugula greens
Directions:
- Add basil leaves, Parmesan, pine nuts, salt and garlic to your food processor or immersion blender and blend until you achieve the desired consistency.
- Dry the tilapia and spoon 1-2 tbsp of the pesto per side per fish and spread evenly.
- Heat your grill to 177°C (350°F), spray with non-stick spray. Lay the thickest parts down first as they will take the longest to cook. Cook until the fish is firm to the touch. Repeat with the thinner bits.
- For the dressing, add the white balsamic to the left-over pesto and stir well.
- Serve over arugula greens and garnish with the dressing and red pepper flakes
- Enjoy!
I’ve also made different types of pesto here and here. My friends who are making pesto:
- ChgoJohn From the Bartolini Kitchens
- Sissi from with a Glass
- Charles from Five Euro Food
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Great dish!
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Thanks! Welcome to my blog.
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Your grilled tilapia looks great Eva!
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Thanks Amber, we made a wonderful arugula (rocket) pesto in Lyon on our cooking class, I hope to blog about it soon!
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Love tilapia – and what a great serving suggestion with pesto! I actually never tried it this way before. I’ve had a bit of a pesto overload recently but I’ll remember this in a couple of weeks or so once my taste buds have recovered from all the basil 😀
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In our cooking class in Lyon we made a rocket pesto that was wonderful; I will share the recipe on our return.
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Mmm, so green and healthy looking. I bet it’s tasty, too… I mean, who doesn’t like pesto?! or tilapia for that matter!:)
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Thanks Fati!
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Your homemade pesto looks amazing Eva! My former roommate and I used to make tilapia quite often (it was the only fish she liked). We used to make it with breadcrumbs and parmesan… it never occurred to us to serve it with pesto (even after making a batch of homemade pesto, which we ate with almost everything). This is on my list of must try foods!
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Thanks Amber, the bread crumbs and Parmesan sounds delicious too!
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I love when you have an inspiration and we get to see the beautiful results all done up! Lovely idea.. I’m always looking for new ways to prepare fish since it’s so healthy!
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Thanks Smidge, I adore pesto and will slather it on anything!
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that pesto looks out of this world creamy and delicious. Love it on the fish- great choice
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Thank you kindly Jessica, it was quite tasty!
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I have never worked with white balsamic vinegar, I just think balsamic vinegar would not taste the same if it is white. Must get rid of this preconceived idea and get a bottle.
Love your presentation.
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It’s rather like a very sweet white vinegar, Norma, not a lot of depth like normal balsamic; it was developed to be used in foods where discoloration was not wanted. They claim it has similar nuances as the dark, but I beg to differ. I have more aged dark balsamic so maybe it’s an unfair comparison.
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Eva, a beautiful presentation. I love the green and it looks so moist and juicy! 😀
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Thank Lorraine, it was rather tasty, even warmed up the next day for lunch.
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Meaty white fish with pesto….It sounds like a perfect match. I sure will love this.
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Thank you Angie, I hope you do.
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I guess I’m about the last peson on Earth not to have tried pesto with fish. Late to the party again! Your dish looks so very good, Eva, that I think you’ve converted me. I cannot wait to give this a try.
That was very kind of you to mention my recipe. Thank you, Eva.
PS … I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to make Italian mozzarella. I’ve given up and will try again when I come back home. The dairy herds need the rest.
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Thanks John, jazzing up fish is not that easy! This was fresh tasting and very tasty too.
I’ve come across a dairy in Toronto that may sell slightly less pasteurized milk for your American Mozzarella recipe, but I’ll have to try it when we return from our European vacation. Looking forward to the Italian mozzarella post. Cheers!
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Great minds think alike Eva! This sounds delicious! I love that you added a spicy component too. And I’m envious of your basil plants. My attempt flopped this year. There’s always next year though.
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Next year will be my year of vegetable gardening. Norma (from Wok to Table) has inspired me!
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The joys of the TTC. 🙂 Love your tilapia and I envy you your booming basil garden. Most of my seedlings ended up dying and I harvested the plants I had too late to get a good crop. Next year will be better (all around), I can only hope.
I have to think of something to do with my fresh thyme though.
Oh well, I’m making turkey stock right now. My stock pot is full so I’m expecting about 30 cups or so. Lots of good soup in my future.
By the way, I’ve never heard of/seen white balsamic vinegar.
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Hi Maria, we get the PC white balsamic ft Loblaws, not sure whether it originated in Italy or not!
The thyme would be great in the turkey stock, your house must smell incredible! I love the aroma of stock cooking. Perfect chilly day for it too.
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I never thought of putting the thyme in the turkey stock. I ended up with about 28 cups at the end and am contemplating making some matzo ball soup with some of it. There’s also some chopped up turkey meat to use up.
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Oh delicious! I love matzo ball soup. I thought of thyme because it’s always paired with turkey in stuffing.
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Sounds like a divine topping Eva, especially with a little pine nut thrown into the mix.
Hope you had a great weekend and my apologies for not being around too much lately. Once again we’re in the middle of moving…this time back to NYC!
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Thanks Jed! Yes, we had a phenomenal weekend.
One of my favourite cities! JTs trying to convince me to do a little to trip between Christmas and New Year!
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You will love Christmas time in NYC, Eva. The windows, the crowd (I love crowd), the atmosphere, the smell of roasting chestnuts …..,
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We’re just trying to fine somewhere nice to stay for new years eve that won’t bankrupt us!
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We are soul sisters Eva! I posted Grilled Tilapia today as well!! How cool is that!!
I love basil and this pesto sounds so delicious!!! What a gorgeous meal!
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What a coincidence Minnie, I’ll check out your recipe.
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I love fish and this looks like the perfect meal for me. Would love to try the basil pesto , great combination.
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Thanks Asmita, pesto is great on pizza, on bread, pasta even on baked potatoes!
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That’s a gorgeous meal, Eva. I wish I lived next door. 🙂
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Now that would be fun, Maureen, you, Charlie and I as neighbours! Thanks.
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I love the way you present this lovely fish dinner my friend and the basil pesto is so complimentary 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thank you kindly CCU, you are complimentary!
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Seeing this luscious grilled fish I wonder why I use pesto so rarely… The “bed” of rocket sounds like a great idea too. Thank you so much for the mention (I have completely forgotten the almond pesto… I haven’t made it for such a long time). Actually I have recently discovered a very unusual pesto in one of the Asian cookery books. I will post about it soon (first I have to test it and see if it’s edible 😉 ).
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Thank you Sissi, I don’t have pest very often either even though I love it. It was perfect on the fish.
I look forward to your recipe soon!
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That looks so healthy Eva and basil pesto is great with fish. What a fabulous dinner. I love the colours and all the greenery xx
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Thank you very much Charlie, it was very tasty indeed.
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