Lemon, caper, tilapia

As I've regularly written, tilapia is one of those fish that you should probably eat if you care about sustainable fishers.  Moreover, it's one of the few fishes that are probably properly labeled (see previous blog post).  I've been playing around with this recipe for a while and I think I've finally nailed it.  It's now one of my favorite ways to add some serious flavor to tilapia.

1 cup flour
2 Tbs pepper
6 tilapia fillets
3 or 4 Tbs olive oil
3 or 4 Tbs butter

1 cup meyer lemon juice
3 or 4 Tbs capers (drained)


Mix the flour and pepper together and roll the tilapia fillets through it until they're lightly breaded.  In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and half the butter and lightly fry the tilapia fillets.  Turn after about 3-4 minutes or so.  When cooked through (6-8 min depending on thickness), remove from heat and blot to remove extra oil and keep in a warm place.

Place the remaining butter, fresh squeezed meyer lemon juice and capers into the frying pan and heat to a boil. While stirring, reduce heat and reduce the volume of the sauce for about 3-5 minutes.  You can add a little corn starch to thicken it a bit if you wish.

Plate the tilapia with rice and pour the luscious sauce over the tilapia and rice.  Enjoy!

Think you're eating snapper?

NGO Oceana released its nationwide survey of seafood labeling.  Much of the seafood we consume is mis-labeled and of all the fish, 89% of fish sold as snapper was not.  It could be tilapia.  It could be another species of snapper.  It could be rockfish.

Why does this matter?  Because if you're trying to buy sustainable fishes, you need to have faith in what you're buying is labelled correctly.

My new motto is that 'it takes a PCR machine to know what fish you're eating'.  Consumers beware!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day is a perfect opportunity to have a mid-winter festival/party.  We had our annual lab party last night at our UCLA lab and the LA Times came by to write about the festivities!