Friday, July 31, 2009

Recipe Friday: Grilled Tilapia with Sofrito

This past weekend my wife and I did some cooking. We've been trying to be healthier with our meals. So this week we made a concerted effort to have lean meats and lots of vegetables. (Not including my Tenders visit yesterday -- chicken tender sandwich, fries, and chocolate milkshake. YUM!)

This led us to look through our assorted recipe books. And after my wife decided we needed more fish in our diet, she found a Tilapia with Sofrito recipe.

If you're like me, you're first through was, "Sofrito?? What's that??"

Turns out I've had Sofrito before, but I didn't know that was the name. Think of it as a non-spicy, but VERY flavorful salsa. It has tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic. And as it turns out, it is the PERFECT compliment to Tilapia.

In addition, if you have left over Sofrito you can re-use it for other things. Add a couple of dashes of Tabasco, and you've got yourself some GREAT salsa. Or, add an additional tomato, juice from a couple of limes, and a jalapeno, and you've got a quick and easy ceveche. Add some cooked and peeled shrimp, and you've got one yummy meal! I made the ceveche last week. It was almost as good as the Tilapia.

Below you'll find the Tilapia with Sofrito recipe we used. It's from Hannaford Supermarkets (in the Northeast). Also, here's the link.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Sofrito
1 medium sweet onion, peeled and quartered
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 8 pieces
1 medium tomato, quartered
3 garlic cloves, peeled 2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt
1/2 cup tightly packed cilantro leaves

Tilapia
4 (8-oz.) tilapia fillets
2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 avocado, peeled and sliced (optional)

Directions:
1 Preheat grill to medium-high.
2) Put onion, bell pepper, tomato, and garlic in bowl of a food processor or blender; pulse until diced.
3) Add olive oil, and pulse for 5 to 10 seconds, until ingredients become a chunky purée. Add salt and cilantro and pulse until blended. Transfer sofrito to a medium serving bowl and set aside.
4) Brush Tilapia fillets with olive oil and grill for 3 minutes on each side over direct heat, or until slightly charred and just opaque in the center.
5) Place fillets on serving platter and sprinkle with black pepper. Top with 3 Tbsp. sofrito and serve immediately, with avocado on the side if desired.

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