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.

We could categorize the fact that I haven’t posted in 3 days as a failure as well, but I’m trying to be nicer to myself – if you had this kind of wicked awful heartburn, you wouldn’t want to sit here and type about food, either.  But in addition to the lemon tart, I think the Sole a la Grenobloise needs to be discussed as well, because like the tart it was really only a partial failure.

The recipe itself is really quite simple despite the fancy name – and if we’re being honest, I love the fancy name, I’m 89% convinced the fancy name improves the taste somehow, just like Tar-ghey makes Target more than just a slightly upscale Walmart – but the problem is that while the recipe is simple, and fast, especially for something coming from Saveur, it does require clarified butter and if you have never made any I am here to tell you DO NOT TRY SHORTCUTS.

2 whole skinless sole filets (about 4 oz. each),
   halved lengthwise down center line
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
   to taste
1?4 cup milk
1 lemon, peeled
1?2 cup flour
2 tbsp. clarified butter
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tsp. capers, drained
2 tsp. coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Season sole filets with salt and pepper; put them into a shallow dish. Cover with milk; set aside.

2. Using a knife, cut white pith away from lemon; remove segments by slicing between membranes. Cut half the segments into 1?2" pieces. (Reserve the other half for another use.) Put flour on a plate; season with salt and pepper; set aside.

3. Heat clarified butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove filets from milk; fold the thin, tapered ends under to create an even thickness. Dredge both sides in flour, shake off excess, and add to skillet. Cook, turning once, until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to plates; cover with foil to keep warm.

4. Add whole butter to skillet; cook, stirring, until it turns a deep brown and smells nutty, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon pieces, capers, and parsley; swirl skillet to combine. Spoon sauce over sole. Serve immediately.

My first obstacle was that my grocery store did not have two 4oz sole filets – they had 4 2oz filets, so that’s what I got. Second, they were quite narrow to begin with so I did not halve them lengthwise. This put me into a mild panic already as I do not cope well with deviating from a new recipe. Third or fourth time I make something, sure, I can fiddle with it. First time? It transforms me into someone, well, let’s just say even the dog leaves the room when things go awry for me with a first-time recipe. I just know my limitations in the kitchen, that’s all.

Actually, let me go back. The smaller filets is actually the second obstacle, the first is that I do not eat fish. I probably haven’t touched anything outside of tuna salad in a good decade, possibly longer. You might rightfully wonder why on earth I’d make a fish dish and the answer is that I am testing my limits and acknowledging that a lot of the food I “don’t eat” has less to do with what I know I don’t like and more to do with what I think I don’t like. For instance, I “don’t eat” guacamole and yet I could not tell you for certain if I’ve ever had any. So in this case, I did some research, read that white fishes are mild in that fishy flavor, and found this recipe which is essentially piccata without the white wine.

So now that we’re back to obstacles, let me tell you about my experience with clarified butter: I once saw Alton Brown make it. That’s it. But I remembered that it looked easy enough so it didn’t worry me until I looked up how to do it* and realized that it didn’t fit into my time schedule at all. I also don’t seem to have a fine mesh sieve which I can guarantee you will be rectified in no time at all nor do I have any talent or know-how when it comes to skimming, well, anything. So I tried just melting 2 tbsp of butter in a Pyrex cup and “straining” it through a coffee filter. This did not work out as well as I had hoped. And by hoped I mean at all.

(* – there are several methods to clarify butter, nearly all of which are mentioned in the comments, but the cooking for engineers site tickles me so much I had to go with it)

I try to be June Cleaver and have dinner on the table by 7 and almost always greatly underestimate how much time I’m going to need for prep. I managed to get it on the table in the neighborhood of 7 but there were casualties – namely, two of the filets. I didn’t have enough butter in the skillet and in addition to that, the milk fats I didn’t get out of the butter burned onto the pan, so the second set were not so much golden brown and delicious as they were scorched and falling apart. My son, being two, was kind enough to eat the shredded mess of one of them and my husband liked the sauce enough to eat the second.

The recipe itself is delicious, and the fish is light, flaky and fall-apart tender. I served mine with roasted red potatoes and steamed broccoli, both only lightly seasoned with salt and pepper since the fish was taking center stage.