Talapia and Cherry Salsa

It is almost embarrassing how excited i was with my most recent purchase- a cherry pitter. I love cherries, and recently had some good ones with my dessert at Fat Cat. I have always wanted to make cherry pie - so while i was looking for recipes for a suitable cherry pie, i also found a recipe that really intrigued me - it was Talapia with Cherry Salsa. Talapia is such a reasonably priced fish that you can get fresh or frozen - i always like to cook with it.


I of course had to see if my cherry pitter would also work on olives, so i did a few of those, and didn't want to waste them so i made a few little apps with things i had in my fridge (goat cheese, pesto, sundried tomatoes, mozzarella, roasted garlic, tomato and avocado).


The cherry Salsa was really good - it had a nice bite to it, and complimented the fish. I would really make this dish again because it was quite nice on its own too.

Cherry Salsa

1/2 lb of cherries (about 2 cups), pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 a small red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro*, chopped
1 large jalapeno, seeds removed and minced
1 tbsp of fresh lime juice
salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients, season to taste and let sit.


*the original recipe called for parsley, but i didn't have any and i can't really stand it anyway


For the sides i did a lemon butter rapini - which i thought was a nice accompaniment - asparagus of course, since i always have it in the fridge. For the potatoes, instead of doing my usual roasted ones, i thought that i would make them sweeter rather than savory, so i roasted them in olive oil, a bit of pepper and maple syrup.

Voila - a very nice and unique meal

Double Duty

At my gym (with all that liquid cheese i do have to work out) they have subscriptions to "women's" magazines which i always take a look at for food ideas. Most of the recipes are a little too "kid-friendly" for my taste buds aka chicken, but i noticed that they would often try and make things that you could use the next day but in a entirely different meal. I only have to cook for myself, but i understand its tough to make every meal from scratch, so i decided to try making a little more of things, but using them in a totally different meal. It actually worked really well and made me think about what i was making in a different way.

Meal One: (Saturday)

Talapia with asparagus and roasted fingerling potatoes.

I picked up a couple talapia filets from the grocery store, talapia is pretty versatile fish and it can take a lot of flavour. I first melted butter and olive oil and spread it on the fish, then seasoned them with a mixture of cumin, red pepper, black pepper and salt. At the same time i roasted the potatoes in olive oil, rosemary and pepper. I broiled the fish, five minutes a side and threw some leftover asparagus in at the last minute.

Meal Two: (Sunday)

I took the left over potatoes and chopped them, sauteing them with garlic and adding a little taco seasoning. Once they were heated i put them into soft (flour) tacos with cheese, sour cream and some south west salad i had made for monday's lunch. (black beans, grape tomatoes, corn, red onions, jalapeno with cumin and chipotle flakes)

Mmmmm.... potato tacos (thanks New York Subway). If i had larger flour tortillas i would have grilled burritos, but i find the small ones too difficult to work with.

Meal Three: (Monday)

There was still the fish left, and i broke it up, heated it and also made tacos, this one topped with cabbage, avocado, tomatoes and a sour cream-lime sauce. I could easily have topped a salad with this fish, but i really like fish tacos. There was actually enough fish left for two people. Next time i'll get only one filet or pick smaller ones.

Mmmmm fish tacos! (there will be an entire post about this in the future)

So maybe these magazines are onto something. Instead of eating the same thing over and over, like i usually do making too much of one thing, this idea of making extra of one thing and using it in something different works well for weekday dinners.

Above:

Talapia Tacos
South west potato tacos
Talapia dinner
Seasoning the filets