Tilapia with Lemon-Chive Butter
strawberry, almond and goat cheese salad
Ingredients
- Chives - 2 Tbsp, chopped
- Lemons - 1, half sliced into wedges & juice from other half
- Tilapia (sub cod or other white fish) - 4 fillets
- Butter - 2 Tbsp + 3 Tbsp
- Almond meal - 1 Tbsp
- White wine (sub chicken or vegetable stock) - 1/3 cup
- Lime juice - 1 Tbsp
- Vinegar, red wine - 1 Tbsp
- Honey - 1 tsp
- Mustard, Dijon - 1/2 tsp
- Oil, cooking - 3 Tbsp
- Greek yogurt, plain - 1 Tbsp
- Strawberries - 1 pint, quartered
- Goat cheese - 3 oz
- Baby spinach - 5 oz (sub other salad greens)
- Almonds, sliced - 4 oz
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make dressing - Combine lime juice, vinegar, honey and mustard with oil. Whisk in Greek yogurt. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Chives / Lemons / Strawberries - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Fish - Rinse and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper.
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Make
- Whisk salad dressing and adjust to taste - add some honey or oil if too tart.
- Heat a skillet or non-stick pan over medium heat. Add first part of butter. Once butter melts, sear fillets in batches for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until flaky and golden. Set fish aside and return pan to heat.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining butter to the hot pan. Once butter melts and begins to sizzle, add almond meal and stir until a thick paste forms. Slowly add white wine, whisking vigorously until smooth. Heat until sauce begins to simmer and allow to continue cooking ~2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in chives and juice from half the lemon. Season with salt and pepper.
- Crumble goat cheese over spinach, strawberries and almonds. Toss with dressing.
- Serve tilapia with lemon-chive butter sauce over the top and extra lemon wedges. Enjoy with salad on the side!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
65 reviews
We used Mahi Mahi for the fish and enjoyed it. The sauce was a bit thicker than expected, but still very tasty. Added a side of roasted radish and turnip with a parsley garlic butter based on fridge inventory.
The fish was delicious. I think I will do butter poached fish for the rest of my life. The sauce??? I don't know what happened there, but I tried it twice and it did NOT work. First, the 3 TB of butter + 1 TB flour did not make a thick paste, it made a buttery roux. I tried to get a thick paste the first time and ended up with burned roux. It was disgusting when I added wine, so that ended up in the trash. The second time I didn't try for a thick paste and just added wine after the flour was added, and it my buttery sauce clumped up and didn't become saucy at all - more like a wet dough. Total and complete failure. Good news is that the fish was delicious without the added butter. I had to sub orange (used all the strawberries for the croissant) and queso fresco (due to DH's food preferences) in the salad. I can see how it would have been much better with goat cheese & strawberries.
Butter poached ANYTHING - yes please! Used shallots since I didn't have chives - sautéed in second portion of butter before adding the almond meal and it turned out great. Clean plates all around!