Basil Covered Tilapia

I had a lot of fresh basil from the farmer's market today, and Miriam came home from the Reading Terminal with two gorgeous fillets of Tilapia (probably from Israel). I also had some incredibly looking local onions from the farmer’s market as well. Here’s what I cooked up—one of the best Tilapia dishes I’ve made.

Salt and peppered the fish. But oil on the bottom of my glass lasagna pan. Coated the fish in the oil. Then I moved it aside and laid out a sort of “ bed” of large basil leaves for it to go on.

I put down one fillet, and then layered the other on top so the thin parts were on top of each other. This made a fairly uniform thickness all across—much better for even cooking. First time I did this. (Also put basil leaves between the overlap.)

I sliced up one half on one of the star onions and chopped of the pretty long green top. Arranged these around the fish in the pan. But it in the broiled for probably ten minutes. Kept checking.

When the onions were getting fairly black on top, took it out and layered basil leaves on top of the fish. After another two minutes, took in out and spooned a small amount of the great tomato sauce from the other day on top. (Had heated it already.)

The onions were so incredibly delicious, we could have eaten just them, but the fish was also wonderfully moist, cooked evenly through, and infused with the sweetness of the onions and basil. Will repeat (with more local fish I hope).