MMMMMMMMM! OK, flash back in time a few hours…
This is dinner tonight. And guess what? There is, at this point in time, no picture of the final dish. Why not? Haven’t finished cooking it yet! I guess this post could be classified as “live blogging” because I will be adding photos as I go!
This is where I am so far — such aromatic spices are making me hungry! Finger swipes of my sauce aren’t helping! I have ingredients assembled and combined. My bread crumb topping started with dried out French Bread in my food processor (1/3 c). Next came herbs and spices (1.5 tsp. total) and some parmesan (2 Tbsp)…
After this picture I worked in some soft butter (1 generous Tbsp). All that is left is to do the cooking and baking. Herb topped fish will end up with a crispy light herb and parmesan topping.
The topped fish will get parked beside some spaghetti rigati — my FA-VOR-ITE long pasta — sauced with Trader Joe’s Arribiata Sauce. I think this is my new favorite jarred sauce, and I’ve tried lots of them. I will be making pizza with it, too. Yummy! So, fave sauce on top of fave noodles — win, win!
Why do I love these noodles so much? You might be able to notice that they are extruded in kind of a + shape. Guess what the sauce likes to do? Yes! It gets all caught up in those open edges and so each bite of noodle brings along that much more sauce. What’s not to love about that? Plus, they just chew differently than regular round spaghetti. If you can find them, try them!
After a bit, you’ll see pictures below of my dinner — see you soon!
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I am back! Back with a full and happy tummy! This is SUCH a make-again dinner, and it’s not just the fish topping but the combination of the fish, the pasta, and the sauce. Even my mom commented on how having a bite of combined pasta and fish was delicious.
I took the buttery herb crumb mixture and loosely piled it onto the fish fillets, only touching the edges of the crumbs enough to make them stay on the fish. I also baked these (at 400F) up on a rack. I hate soggy breadcrumb edges :P Blech! This worked out nicely, but didn’t shorten the cooking time: 25 minutes was what it took in my oven but the fish was very cold going in.
I am an official fan of the Trader Joe’s Arribiata Sauce! It was delicious hot on the pasta, and as a topping for the fish… I knew it would be after my samples of it at room temp when taking the pictures from earlier. I will be stocking up on this, and do indeed plan on using it for pizza sauce later this week.
A few marinated olives, etc from my giant jar to go alongside a simple salad, and we were set!
Here’s the fish/topping recipe in brief:
For 3 tilapia fillets (or other thin white fish): 1/3 c. fine bread crumbs, 3/4 tsp. good Italian seasoning blend, 1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb (yum!), 2 Tbsp. fine parmesan, 1/4 tsp. salt. Mix well, then smash in a generous Tablespoon of soft butter. Pile loosely onto fish fillets. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes until done in center; you might have to cut fillets in half and turn the pointy ends toward the center in order to get the thick part cooked through. (you don’t get to see those pictures *wink*)
And here again is my dinner plate:
Eat sustainable fish! It is good for you!
Gail
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