Butter Poached Tilapia
Roasted in a bath of butter and lemon juice, Butter Poached Tilapia is one delicious bite after another! Topped with fresh dill, creamy feta cheese, and fresh basil, your mouth will experience an explosion of flavor. This is a great dish to add to your Mediterranean Diet! Give this a try today!
Love Hate Relationship with Fish
Let me start by saying, I grew up hating fish. Absolutely detested it. No matter what my father did, I wouldn’t eat it. That is, until I started working at the restaurant Ruga. Since it was an upscale restaurant, pretty much everything was fresh. Including the fish. I never had fish so fresh!
Now, my father would buy fresh fish, flounder to be precise. And I loved fishing! Still do. However, he froze everything. So even the fresh fish we had, was no longer fresh. Then there were those horrible fish sticks. OMG! When I started to work at Ruga I learned that fish begins to break down even if it’s frozen.
I learned when my local grocery store and fish markets would get their fish delivered. I would then schedule my fish meals around that information. Now that I have learned how to cook fish professionally, I now love fish . . . well, mostly, lol!
What is Butter Poaching?
Poaching fish in butter is super easy and is so delicious. The fish comes out buttery, flaky, succulent, with this gentle feel. It is so good!
Poaching is cooking using a gentle moist heat where the food item is submerged or partly submerged in a liquid. Poaching in butter uses a lot of butter – 1-2 sticks. Most poaching is done a low heat, but I use a higher heat with this meal to slightly melt the feta cheese.
How to Poach Fish
There are different ways to poach fish. One common technique is to use a skillet on your stove. You can also use a roasting pan in the oven, as I do in this recipe.
To poach fish on the stove, typically you would sauté garlic, shallots, and so forth, add your fish, then add the butter. Some will also add white wine or chicken stock. The fish will absorb all these flavors and taste amazing!
I’ll tell you how to poach in the oven below.
Butter Poached Tilapia
I always love to cook meals with common, easy to find items. I do my fair share of exotic meals, but mostly you can find the items in your local grocery store. And that’s the case with my Butter Poached Tilapia. Here’s the ingredients:
- Tilapia
- Butter
- Shallot
- Lemon Juice
- Garlic
- Feta Cheese
- Fresh Dill
- Fresh Basil
- Fresh Lemon
How to Make Butter Poached Tilapia
- Heat your oven to 350ºF.
- The first thing you will do is sauté the shallot and garlic in olive oil and butter. Cook until they are soft, about 2 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon juice and the rest of the butter. Stir until all the butter is melted.
- Season both sides of the tilapia fillets with salt and pepper and immediately place them in a glass roasting pan.
- Pour the butter sauce over the fillets and sprinkle fresh dill and feta cheese over each piece.
- Put the roasting pan in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. The feta cheese will not completely melt, but it will slightly.
- Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Garnish with fresh basil and lemon slices.
Substitutions and Variations
Fish – you can substitute nearly any white fish. However, the thicker the fillet, the more liquid you’ll need. Also, if you have frozen fish, this is the perfect recipe for it because the butter sauce gets absorbed into the fish and eliminates the fishy flavor.
Herbs – mint or fennel fronds would work great with this.
Veggies – an awesome veggie to use would be fresh fennel!
Wine Poached Cod with Sweet Tomatoes
Try This As a Side Dish
Avocado Cucumber Mediterranean Salad
Butter Poached Tilapia
Ingredients
- 4 fillets Tilapia
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 8 Tablespoons Butter
- 1/4 cup Shallot, diced small
- 3 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 1 cup Feta Cheese, crumbled
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Dill, fronds chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Basil, chopped
- Fresh Lemon Slices (for garnish)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
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Heat your oven to 350º F.
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Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Sauté the shallots and garlic until they are soft, about 2 minutes.
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Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon juice and the rest of the butter. Stir until all the butter is melted.
-
Season both sides of the tilapia fillets with salt and pepper and immediately place them in a glass roasting pan.
-
Pour the butter sauce over the fillets and sprinkle fresh dill and feta cheese over each piece.
-
Put the roasting pan in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. The feta cheese will not completely melt, but it will slightly.
-
Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Garnish with fresh basil and lemon slices.
