Tilapia in Wine Sauce

Wine is one of my favorite ingredients. It lightens the dish, changes the flavor profile. It’s part of Shrimp Scampi. And, for those that don’t like shrimp, well, there’s Chicken Scampi. Then, well, the whole Chicken Cutlet, really good. Now for another dish in the same vein. Tilapia in wine sauce is light, easy to make and absolutely delicious, you really need to try this one.

Coming home from work at the end of the day, none of us feel like cooking. Dinner on a Wednesday night has to be simple, it’s why we end up at the golden arches. Well, this dish comes together easy and quick. You can even cut corners. I enjoy cooking, but, of you don’t want to dice your onions, well, my local grocery store sells fresh diced onions in a package. And, you can get minced garlic in a jar. This gets really easy, at this point the hardest thing is to turn on the stove. And in about 20 mins, which is shorter than the line at the drive through, you will have a restaurant quality dish.

I have a post series called “Cooking For One“. Something I discussed was the idea of having a base recipe that could be used with multiple ingredients. Cooking is always easier if we’re not continuously running to the recipe card to see what to add next. That is the case here. The base recipe is sautéed onions and garlic in olive oil, add wine, add your protein cook, reduce the liquid and serve. No fancy ingredients list to remember. Change the protein as you like, chicken, fish, shrimp. All these dishes are quick and easy to make.

Including fish in your diet is healthy. Tilapia is a good choice, and a good source of protein. Due to it’s over abundance, easy to raise, and popularity it’s a cheaper fish, and available fresh or frozen. Nearly all tilapia is farmed, and for some, that is a problem. Not every country has the same rules and regulations. It’s important to do homework regarding any farmed fish. When buying fresh, your fishmonger should have country of origin information. If you buy frozen, it will have the country information on the package. Also there’s a wealth of information available online, take advantage of it

Getting back to the recipe. Start with finely diced onions and garlic, finely diced is the key here. This is because, when finely diced, more flavor is released. There are many videos available online to learn how to dice anything, feel free to check some out. Preheat a pan over medium heat, when hot add olive oil, heat that up then add the onions and garlic. The idea is to soften them, let their sweetness come out. Keep covered stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning.

When they’re soft, add the wine, salt, pepper and ground red pepper flakes. This is optional, I like a little warmth to my dish. Now, bring the wine to a boil before adding the fish. This prevents too much of a temperature drop. Add the tilapia filets, and, allow the wine to come to a second boil. Now add the capers, and cook about 3-4 mins on each side. As the fish cooks some of the alcohol will boil off, and the liquid will thicken somewhat and the flavor from the capers will have a chance to spread around a bit. The capers will bring a salty snap to the flavor profile, I like them.

That’s it, tilapia in wine sauce, easy and delicious. Serve with your choice of sides, rice, salad, practically anything. Enjoy dinner, and, thank you for reading