Tilapia with Mango Salsa

I was in Atlanta last week for Spring Break visiting Ben. We had some pretty amazing dinner plans for most of the week. Last time I was there we were dying to go to Rathbun's for a steak dinner but the restaurant is closed on Sundays and it's a bit pricey. However, this time we caught the tail-end of restaurant week so we got a pretty decent deal on a three course meal. Ben and I both started with the ahi tuna for the appetizer, steak as our dinner, and for dessert I had a strawberry buttermilk poundcake with sour cream ice cream that was to die for and Ben had a triple chocolate mousse cake. The steak was delicious but the real stand out for me was the sour cream ice cream. I've never had it before but I can't wait to find a recipe and give it a try. It was really really good. Sunday during the day we grilled out in Piedmont Park and made brats (brats a la sconnie as Ben likes to call them).

We boiled them in beer and onions before we got to the park and they were soo good. We also grilled up some asparagus, had some potato salad and my blueberry hand pies! Unfortunately, we forgot utensils so we ended up trading pies for forks with a nice family. We threw a football around (I even learned how to make the ball spiral!)

Sunday night we went back to the italian restaurant from my last visit where we got the italian sausage and apple ravioli. The ravioli was just as good as I remembered. Ben tried to get the recipe since the last time we went there and they're just not budging still. Wednesday night we went to a sushi restaurant because Ben got a groupon for a three course meal. The appetizer was cheese kari kari, which Ben referred to as a cheese curd but better. Uh, not quite, buddy... cheese curds are the bee's knees. The kari kari was just okay for me.. I was expecting something more like a crab rangoon and it wasn't anything like it so I let him eat most of mine. Then we had some kind of fried beef dish for dinner which was so so good. The best part was the tempura oreos. They were best when you took every bite with a little bit of ice cream, chocolate and raspberry sauce though. I inhaled mine.

Then it started pouring rain so we went to see the Hunger Games. I kept telling Ben I wanted to go since I had read the books last summer and love them. He ended up loving the movie and has told his friends to go see it even. I highly recommend it to those of you who haven't seen it yet.

To the recipe! With all of these amazing food plans and dates planned throughout the week, we had to make some meals at home to save money. We also wanted them to be healthy, especially since we had a lot of rich, heavy and fried foods. So we came up with tilapia with mango salsa. The recipe makes quite a bit of salsa, way too much for the fish. But I think it would be good with chips or even mixed with rice and black beans and served for lunch. We meant to save the rest of our salsa for lunch the next day but forgot to put it in the refrigerator. The salsa was amazing and paired so well with the fish. I think it would be good with any kind of fish really. I liked that I could prepare everything ahead of time and let it sit in the refrigerator for awhile. It made it seem a lot easier to make since I was able to prepare most everything when I had time. This is a recipe that I will be making all summer long!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
3 (6 ounce) tilapia filets

For the mango salsa:
1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp red onion, minced
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tbsp lime juice (about one lime)
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, parshley, garlic, basil, black pepper, and salt. Pour into a large resealable plastic bag (like a Ziploc freezer bag). Add in the tilapia filets, seal out excess air in the bag, and press closed. Move the tilapia around in the bag until they are coated with marinade. Refrigerate for at least an hour. To make the mango salsa, in another bowl, combine together diced mango, bell pepper, onion, cilantro, jalepeno pepper, lime juice, and lemon juice. Toss well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. To make tilapia, preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Add just enough olive oil to coat the pan. Shake off the excess marinade from the tilapia and place them in the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until the fish is no longer translucent and flakes easily with a fork. Remove form the pan and top with mango salsa.  Note: You can also grill the tilapia for 3-4 minutes over medium high heat as well. 


Source: Recipe from All Recipes