Tilapia with Purple Potato Crust and Chive Rosemary Oil

Tonight I was looking for something healthy and relatively easy to make (gotta balance out all those cupcakes). Case in point, the Icedgems truck outside of Hopkins today. Icedgems is a cupcake bakery that had been on my list to try and their truck tends to be on campus on Fridays. Oddly enough, I had never tried them before. I anxiously watched the clock, hoping we'd break for lunch before they left at 1130. We got out at 1127 and I sprinted to the truck since it was not far from the classroom. No shame. I walked away with a fantastic vanilla salted caramel cupcake and a chocolate chip sundae cupcake.

How awesome do these look??

After this non-diet friendly sojourn, I made a plan to hit up Trader Joe's and the gym after work, then do some healthy cooking and clean up my bomb of a house. No seriously, it was bad. I'm now coming to you from a (relatively) clean house drinking a glass of wine and relaxing.

One night shift while unoccupied, I browsed the Giada de Laurentiis website for recipes and printed out whatever looked interesting. This is the same site where I found the oh so glorious short rib lasagna roll-ups.

Fish is a great source of protein after a workout and I paired it with some edamame (aka soybeans). The following is my less pretty but still yummy version of Giada's Tilapia with Purple Potato Crust and Chive Rosemary Oil.

First, preheat your oven to 375F, then in an oven safe skillet (I used my cast iron), heat 2 tablespoons of both butter and olive oil until the butter is melted and the oil is hot. Then peel 8-12oz of purple potatoes and slice them very thin. I tried to make them as thin as possible but if you want the thinness pictured in the recipe you may need something like a mandoline slicer, which I sadly do not own but would love to have one day.

Next, take 4 tilapia filets and season them with salt and pepper. Then layer the purple potatoes like shingles along each piece of fish, sprinkle with more salt and pepper, and top with a tablespoon of finely chopped rosemary.

At this point your skillet should be nice and hot, maybe even scarily so (i.e. like mine. Still not used to how hot my stove gets). Gingerly, while cringing every time the oil hits your hands, place the fish potato side down and then pop the skillet in the oven for 15-17 minutes.

Flipping the fish onto the skillet without all the potatoes falling off was quite the challenge. I did the best I could but had to stuff some of them back under with the spatula.

While the fish is cooking, make your oil. Chop up another tablespoon of rosemary and a 1/3 cup of chives, and mix with 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and a 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a small mixing bowel. Once the fish is done, plate and drizzle the sauce over the top. Beware, olive oil pours fast and it's easy to go overboard, which you can see in my picture. Fortunately it did not affect the taste.

As a side dish I made edamame with shallots and garlic. To start, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saute pan over medium high eat. While it's heating chop up 3 shallots and mince 3 cloves of garlic.

Once the oil is hot, add the shallots to the pan and saute for about 2 minutes. Then add in the garlic and saute for an additional 2 minutes. Toss in a 1/2 pound of frozen, shelled edamame with 2 sprigs of thyme, 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce and some salt and pepper. Simply stir until the edamame is heated through and serve.

Here are the finished products:

This was pretty good after today's workout. I think the next time I make it I would like to have something to slice the potatoes thinner so they stick better to the fish and become a little more translucent. However, the taste was there and I will be happy to eat it as leftovers after tomorrow's workout.

For full recipes click here:

Tilapia: http://www.giadadelaurentiis.com/recipes/820/tilapia-with-purple-potato-crust-and-chive-rosemary-oil
Edamame: http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/soybean-edamame-recipe-spring-equinox/