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Lemony Caper Tilapia with Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Olives + Spinach

Posted on by Naomi
I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to cooking fish. Sometimes I come up with an awesome recipe that is so good I actually have to take a step back and try to remember exactly what I did so I can mimic it for the next time. Other times, I get lazy when it comes to fish, and it ends up  in a skillet with some lemon, salt and pepper or on the grill, just as is. Tilapia is one of those fishes that I really enjoy and is pretty hard to ‘screw up’ It can be adapted to many different flavors due to its mild taste. If you are not a huge fish fan, I highly suggest you start with tilapia because it is not ‘fishy’ at all!
  • Tilapia is a POWERHOUSE of PROTEIN and somewhat lower in calories meaning you can pair it with a ton of veggies, sweet potato and some healthy fats for an amazingly balanced and fat burning meal!
  • one- 4oz serving has about 28 grams of protein! It is also packed with B12 and niacin
I love trying out new flavors when it comes to cooking with this fish because like I mentioned earlier, it can easily be adapted to almost anything!
In the near future, I definitely plan on making
I picked up some fresh Tilapia from Whole foods on my way home from work and was brainstorming flavors and ways to make it absolutely delicious. These days, I am so busy at work, running around, training, etc when I come home, I haven’t had so much motivation to cook eleborate recipes. I miss it. I crave it. I love and will always love cooking. Today, I made it a point to have ‘me’ time in the kitchen.  I threw this recipe together totally off the bat, so I am trying as hard as I can remember to share exactly what I did (and with my mom’s help!) 

First I layered about a half a bag of fresh spinach in a ceramic ‘bake friendly’ dish. I topped hte spinach with 1 chopped tomato, a container of pre-diced mushrooms, the zest of 1/2 lemon, 1/4 C chopped green olives, 1/2 T thyme, 1/2 T dill and 1 T of capers
 Next step!
This is what the dish looked like without the fish, prior to being placed in the oven. I added some frozen broccoli for the mere fact that I had about 6 florets left in the bag and figured I would throw them on there as well. for the ‘juice’ of the dish, I poured about 1/3 C white wine in the bottom
I placed about 3/4lb of fish ontop of the veggie/wine mixture and topped the fish with a few more shakes of fresh lemon zest. Into the oven it went for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. This fish cooks fast so be on the lookout not to overcook!
 Post cooking! All ready to eat. The kitchen smelled of lemony and salty flavors and I was so ready to dig in! Lately I have had an obsession of roasted tomatoes. Do not throw out smushy tomatoes! Throw some salt and pepper on them and roast in the oven. They are SO good, even cold atop salads and sandwiches.

Lemony Caper Tilapia with tomatoes, mushrooms, and olives served over wilted spinach
Serves: 3

Ingredients
  • 3/4-1lb fresh tilapia 
  • 1/3 zest fresh lemon
  • 1/3 C white wine
  • 1/2 package fresh spinach (use fresh, not frozen because this will make the dish watery and soggy!)
  • 1/3 C chopped green olives
  • 1 package mushrooms
  • 1 T capers in their juice
  • 1 medium sized tomato-sliced in rustic size chunks
  • 1/2 T dill
  • 1/2 T thyme
  • Salt and pepper to taste (won’t need that much salt because the capers and olives have a natural saltiness)
Directions
  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
  • Place spinach in the bottom of a baking dish. Start layering all of the veggies on top; mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, capers, 1/2 fresh lemon zest (reserve the rest to put on top of the fish before going in the oven)
  • Pour the white wine over the veggie mixture
  • place fish on top
  • Season the dish with the thyme and dill and the remainder of the lemon zest
  • Bake at 400 degrees (covered with aluminum foil) for about 15 minutes (be sure not to overcook!)


Hope you enjoy the recipe!!


Now if you are looking for a sweat session on this beautiful day…look no further than the “Bust Through Your Cardio Craziness”


Happy SUNDAY!

Naomi
Naomi