It’s getting fancy over here!
I am seriously dying over this dish. You guys…have you ever had chicken puttanesca? It’s a popular Italian dish that’s salty, tangy garlicky and so delicious. Well…Vin and I are on a fish kick, by fish I mean salmon. Salmon, salmon, SALMON. Don’t get me wrong, I heart salmon, so much, but I needed to switch it up.
Tilapia is nothing like salmon…it’s cheap, white, not fatty and is similar to chicken in that it needs flavor to make it taste good, which is why it’s absolutely perfect for this dish.
Puttanesca is a traditional southern Italian dish that’s made with olives, capers, tomatoes, garlic, wine and olive oil. I add a little fresh lemon juice to brighten it up even more and a pinch of sugar to offset the acidity of the ingredients. It whips up in about 10-15 minutes and is heaven. It pairs with just about anything…fish, chicken, steak or ever over spaghetti. In fact, you could boil up some spaghetti and serve it with this dish if you would like.
Am I boring you? I hope not because this dish is so far from boring. It’s a perfect weeknight meal because it’s fast and has minimal clean up, but it’s also a great recipe for those “special” nights because it’s a bit fancy.
Get the candles out!
Don’t forget to pin this recipe on Pinterest by clicking the image below!
- 2 tilapia filets
- Flour for dredging the fish
- Handful of kalamata olives, roughly chopped
- tablespoon of capers
- 8-10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 clove of garlic minced (1 teaspoon from a jar)
- ½ small onion, finely diced
- ½ cup white wine (I used sauvignon blanc)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- A few pinches of salt and pepper
- flour for dredging the fish
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Fresh parsley (optional for garnish)
- Lightly salt and pepper the fish and dredge in flour so each filet is covered in a light coating of flour.
- Place a large saute pan over medium to medium-high heat and add olive oil. Once heated, add fish filets (it should sizzle) and cook on each side until crispy and lightly browned - 2-3 minutes per side. If your saute pan is too hot, lower heat. Once fish are cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
- Drizzle a little more olive oil if pan seems dry then add onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes. Next add olives, tomatoes and capers and cook for about 2 minutes until tomatoes start to gently soften. Next add wine and simmer until wine is reduced by about half. lastly, add fresh lemon juice, butter, a pinch of pepper (taste for salt before adding as the olives and capers have quite a bit of salt in them) and sugar to help offset the acid in the tomatoes. Pour sauce over fish and top with parsley if desired.
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