Tilapia with Lemon Pesto and Oven Roasted Tomatoes

We've been in a fish rut for a months now. All I seem to make with our stash of frozen tilapia is fish tacos. While fish tacos are pretty darn awesome, I knew I would need to move on, eventually. For a while I could blame it on the nice weather (I'm talking last summer, here), but even in the dead of winter, I turned to that easy-to-prepare, delicious, healthy fish taco recipe.

I could further blame it on the fact that most of the tilapia recipes in my queue call for breadcrumbs, and I can't find whole wheat breadcrumbs in the store. Or, I did eventually find some, but a look at the ingredient label revealed that they contained high fructose corn syrup. (In breadcrumbs? Really?) They immediately went back on the shelf. Yes, I know I can make them at home, but I'm too lazy busy to figure out how to achieve the right texture.

Enter one of my favorites blogs: Elly Says Opa! This recipe caught my eye because I had some pesto to use up, and allowed me to skirt around my bread crumb debacle.

This turned out to be a quick, simple way to prepare a flavorful dish!

Tilapia with Lemon Pesto and Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Source: Elly Says Opa!
Yield: Serves 2
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pesto
• 1 lemon
• 2 tilapia filets
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Toss the tomatoes and the garlic with the olive oil and some salt and pepper. Roast for about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, juice the lemon and reserve both the juice and the juiced lemon. To the juice, add the pesto and stir to combine. Season the tilapia with salt and pepper and then spread the pesto mixture on top of the fish.
3. Take the pan of roasted garlic and tomatoes out of the oven and nestle the cut lemon into the pan. Place the tilapia on top of the lemon and tomatoes and put back in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the fish is flaky and no longer opaque. Spoon the tomatoes over the fish.