Baked Mediterranean Tilapia

Baked Mediterranean Tilapia (serves 4)

4 Tilapia Loins
1 large or 2 medium Vidalia Onions (or yellow onions) sliced ¼” thick
2 medium tomatoes sliced ¼” thick
4 Tbsp fresh chopped basil (or 2 Tbsp dry basil)
8 cloves chopped garlic
4 Tbsp olive oil
12 Calamari olives chopped

1. Defrost tilapia loins. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Sauté sliced onions in olive oil 2 or 3 minutes on each side until translucent
3. Place onions in baking pan. Place fish on top of onions. Sprinkle with olives, garlic and basil. Top with tomato slices. Salt & pepper to taste (we put S&P on the fish and on the tomatoes
4. Bake uncovered 12-15 minutes or until fish is opaque

Notes: we served this with asparagus, rice, and salad. We decided less garlic and more basil and we used green olives and black olives for lack of Calamari olives.

For the more pictorially inclined...

And now for your entertainment, we have Cooking with Sarah! Brought to you from the Loftus headquarters in Cincinnati, photography by D Loftus.

"There is no price for awesomeness... or attractiveness."

1. Defrost tilapia loins. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Sauté sliced onions in olive oil 2 or 3 minutes on each side until translucent

2.a peel onion, don't forget to smile...

2.b. Chop onion. Please realize this is an incredibly unsafe method, only shown for sheer comedic value. Notice that the tomatoes were already sliced. Magic!
2.c. Sauté those onions! When combining hot olive oil with anything in a frying pan, don't forget your Mickey Mouse apron. This is very very important.
3. Place onions in baking pan. Place fish on top of onions. Sprinkle with olives, garlic and basil. Top with tomato slices. Salt & pepper to taste (we put S&P on the fish and on the tomatoes

3.a Just look at that!

3.b chop olives. This may or may not be the most effective way of cutting olives in half. I'll leave this up to your interpretation and subsequent discretion.
Ohai! Yep, I'm still in this scene.
3.c Smash and chop your garlic. Don't be afraid to really smash the garlic. If it helps to sing "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles while you do so, be my guest.
3.d Place tilapia loins on top of sautéed onions. We added a few sprays of "I can't believe it's not butter" butter.

3.e Grab your basil from the garden and wash it!
3.f Roll your basil. I find it best to roll it longways before cutting, but you're the cook!
3.g cut your basil and look at how cool those curls are!
3.h Put olives and garlic on top of tilapia loins. Dexterously distribute your basil curls.
3.i time to put those tomatoes on! Then add salt and pepper...
4. Bake uncovered 12-15 minutes or until fish is opaque. Yes, the smile is required and is a validated cooking method. Don't question me, I'm a scientist! (I'm also well-versed in hyperbole...)
mmmm, look at that!
This meal just keeps getting better. Bring out your Asian roots and put some fruit and salad on the table on funky Japanese appetizer dishes!

Well, there you have it. Beauty, personified and seasoned.

Conference Weekend Indulgences

So here's a snapshot or two of the things I made for myself during conference weekend (General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This happens twice a year where the General Authorities, men called by revelation from God to be special witness of Christ, speak to the general membership all over the world via satellite about how to come closer to Christ). The first is straight-up pancakes ala bisquick whatever I could find in my fridge. In this particular case that meant soy milk instead of cow milk, so I added some cream to that.

And then we have my wacky attempt at Caprese. I had found a mozzarella ball on sale, so I just had to buy it. Which meant I had to buy tomatoes. And hey, check it out -- I still had fresh basil growing in my garden! So I decided I wanted a few more carbohydrates and rolled the mozzarella (sliced) in breadcrumbs. I would recommend going with a true, well-researched recipe including olive oil. But I just stuck all of that in the oven for a few minutes and enjoyed it all with a piece of toast.