Tilapia with Endive and Lemon-Pepper Oil

from our fine friends at Food Network Magazine.

Also known as lemony fish with greens and taters, which is why I do not work in marketing. The actual recipe calls for escarole, but after going to 5 grocery stores in search of it, I made do with curly endive – escarole is endive though a different and supposedly less bitter variety. I read that radicchio is virtually indistinguishable from escarole in taste but I had this awful fear that the red color of it would bleed onto the fish and that just did not sound appealing to me at all. Anyway.

For those of you who don’t actually like seafood – like me – tilapia is a very, very mild fish. If it’s the fishy flavor you hate, you would be fine eating this. If it’s the texture of fish, you’re hosed, don’t make it. If you can, though, it’s got nice protein content, not to mention low mercury content.

Tilapia with Endive/Escarole and Lemon-Pepper Oil

You will need:

–1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
–12 oz baby fingerling potatoes, halved
–4 cloves of garlic, smashed (I used five because I’m a rebel)
–1 bunch curly endive OR 1 head escarole, torn into pieces
– Kosher salt and ground black pepper
–1 1/4 lb tilapia fillets, patted dry
–2 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves torn, or a couple shakes of dry oregano if you (like me) were unwilling to spend 3 bucks on fresh oregano that will just go bad in your fridge
–Juice of one lemon

Heat up 1/4 c of that oil in a large skillet – and I do mean large. 12" or bigger. (so many things that could be said here….)

When the oil is warmer, put your potatoes in cut side down, to get them all brown and tasty on le bottom. The garlic should go in too. This process should take you roughly 5 minutes. My oil was not optimal temperature when I put my potatoes in so it took longer for them to crisp up a bit. Plus they stuck to my pan. How that happened with a freakin’ lake of oil coating the bottom of the pan, I’ll never know.

They really do look like fingers. I’m going to put a big bowl of them smothered in ketchup outside for Halloween. Looks aside, they are creamy and delicious on the inside and worth getting. Once they’re done, add your endive/escarole.

This may take some work, I had to stuff mine in there pretty good since I only have a 12" skillet. It does however wilt down relatively quick once you add 1/3 cup of water and cover with a lid, which you should do once it’s all in there. Give it another 5 minutes or so to steam and soften up.

While that’s happening, get your fish dried and seasoned with salt and pepper. After the 5 minutes is up, place the tilapia on top of your now-wilted greens, cover and steam for 5 more minutes or until the fish is cooked through. (5 minutes should do it just fine)

While the fish is cooking, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup of oil, the lemon juice, a bit of salt and a healthy dose of black pepper. If you are feeling adventurous (and aren’t breastfeeding/pregnant) I think a glug or two of a dry white wine would go great in this. I don’t ever feel adventurous with a new recipe – and I’m nursing – so I don’t know if that actually tastes good, I only know that the flavors, especially combined with the bitterness of the greens and the relative sweetness of the fish, should balance nicely with the addition of a little wine.

Getting the now-cooked fish off those greens can be tricky. I tried tongs first and that was really dumb of me, I should have learned that lesson from the Dover sole a few weeks back. Fish and tongs – shredded mess. Make use of your slotted spatula here and lift the fish onto the plates. Serve with the greens, dig some of the potatoes off the bottom of your pan, drizzle with the lemon oil and bon appetit.

It should be noted that while this is a tasty dish, I did not like the endive. In the interest of fairness though, I am not overly fond of wilted greens, particularly dark greens as they tend to be bitter and unpleasantly textured for me. That’s just personal though and Warren, who likes basically any kind of green raw or cooked, thought it was good.