Parchment Tilapia, lazy style

Update: since I found out that tilapia actually isn’t a good source of omega 3s, we now use flounder instead.  Yum yum!!!

The criteria for a good weeknight recipe are: yummy, easy, quick, and main meal and veggie all in one.  This tilapia is all of the above!  I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for a long time.  It’s an old standby, perfect for when I’m not going to be home and I can just put everything together quickly and have DH pop it in the oven.  It also makes good use of the lemongrass from my garden, and is perfect for green peppers that just are too harsh tasting to have raw.  I freeze some of the long lemongrass stalks to make this recipe in the winter months.

Lemongrass is used as an herb, but it’s actually a grass. Usually, it’s not eaten and just added for flavor, but if you have tiny pieces in a dish, it’s certainly edible. It’s commonly used in Thai and other East Asian dishes. If you have a cat and intend to grow lemongrass, beware. Not only will they devour the whole darn plant, but then they will regift you with the lemongrass, pre-chewed. Do not ask how I know this.

Tilapia is bland, which makes it a perfect canvass for garlic and ginger, which are both fabulous anti-inflammatory herbs.  They also freeze really well, and I chop them when I have the time, and then thaw mini cubes of chopped ginger and garlic when needed.

I used to make fish wrapped in foil, and it takes a heck of a long time to wrap them individually in tilapia and then re-wrap in foil.  There’s a simple solution, though: make one big foil envelope, and save the trouble!

4 flounder or tilapia fillets
5 bell peppers, sliced in rounds
2 Thai peppers, minced
1 inch of fresh ginger, minced
6-7 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 chopped green onions
4-foot long green outer leaves of lemongrass, finely minced (I’m sure you can use dried, but I never have)
2 Tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, OR a splash of soy sauce
1.5 tablespoons maple syrup, or 3-4 Tablespoons fruit juice, or a pinch of stevia
sesame seeds (optional)

Line a 9X13 pan with foil, and then also line with parchment paper, if desired.  Put fish in the dish.  Combine ginger, garlic, chopped lemongrass, salt, oil and sweetener, stir to combine.  Pour over fish, sprinkle peppers on top.  Cover pan tightly with a second piece of foil and crimp the edges.

Bake 25-30 minutes (a little longer for flounder)or until done. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, serve and enjoy.

I’m serving up this tilapia as an ode to lemongrass for this week’s edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, the brainchild of Kalyn’s Kitchen. Our hostess this week is Valentina of Trembom, English Version