My husband is a "Tri-Guy" and he recently signed up for his first Ironman in Cozumel, Mexico. As a result, I've been trying to get him to eat better.
When I looked at our dinner menus, I noticed that we hadn't been eating any fish lately. This surprised me because I grew up eating fish – my father was an avid fisherman who fished at least once a week, so we always had an abundance of fish in the house!
So, my first priority was to put the fish back into our weekly menus. Salmon would have been the better option for my "tri-guy", but I used Tilapia because I wanted the kids to try it. Tilapia is much more mellow tasting than salmon, and I just wanted dinner to go smoothly.
This recipe produces moist, tender fish – and perfectly cooked vegetables. We made a quick bag of rice to go alongside it, but it is so chock-full of veggies, that you could easily use this recipe as a "one pot" meal. Plus, the clean-up is a cinch!
[At the bottom of this recipe, I've included the Nutrition Facts. My dear friend Sue Strom has kindly offered to tally up the nutritional info for any of my "tri-guy" meals. Please keep in mind that the nutritional facts may change if our scallions & corn are not exactly the same size. Also, the garlic salt knocked the sodium levels out of the park – but triathletes sweat a lot, so it's not a deal breaker…this time!]
TILAPIA & SUMMER VEGETABLE PACKETS
Serves: 2-3 persons [or 1 wife and 1 husband…who eats seconds]
Ingredients:
3/4 pounds of tilapia (this gave us 3 nice sized fillets)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 fresh ear of corn
1 cup zucchini, skins on, chopped
1 cup squash, skins on, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 cup red pepper, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped (approximately 9)
1/2 lemon, juice of
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat grill to medium.
Step 2: Prepare vegetables; place in a large bowl and set aside.
Step 3: Wash fish, check for bones. In a large shallow dish, place olive oil, pepper, garlic and tilapia. Coat on all sides.
Step 4: Make foil packets. Lay two, 20-inch sheets of heavy-duty foil on top of each other and generously coat the top piece of foil with cooking spray. (The double layers of foil will help prevent burning, and the cooking spray will help prevent the fish from sticking to the foil.) Place one portion of tilapia in the center of the foil and top with 1/3 of the vegetable mixture. Repeat with remaining fillets.
Step 5: Bring the short ends of the foil together, but leave room in the packet for steam to gather and cook the food. Fold the foil over and pinch to seal. Pinch seams together along the sides. Make sure all the seams are tightly sealed to keep steam from escaping. Repeat with remaining fillets.
Step 6: Grill the packets until the fish is cooked through and the vegetables are just tender, about 15-18 minutes on indirect heat. To serve, carefully open both ends of the packets and allow the steam to escape. (Be very careful – the steam will be piping hot!) Use a spatula to slide the contents onto plates.
Thanks for reading,
Denine
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