I can't stand the taste or texture of neither tilapia nor mashed potatoes so creating this dish and then EATING it will be a challenge for me. There are different recipes for preparing each of the foods (see below) but I decided to stick to the traditional recipe that my mom uses: a baked fish and home-made mashed potatoes.
I can be an incredibly curious person if I'm interested and since this stuff is going in my mouth, I decided to investigate some of the history on the individual components of this meal and I was shocked with what I found out about each!
Tilapia babies hatch in the MOUTH of the female (how gross is that!) and they stay in her mouth so she can protect them from predators. They eat plankton and are often called filter feeders but aren't true filter feeders. This is because they don't physically filter the water through their gill rakers as efficiently as true filter feeders do. Tilapia is believed to have been around for about three thousand years and first found in Egypt. The basic nutrition facts for this food are: one hundred and twenty eight calories, twenty grams of protein and three grams of fat (according to http://www.buzzle.com/articles/tilapia-nutrition.html ). Tilapia is not good to eat if you have heart problems. Many people raise this kind of fish on 'farms' but this is not as good for the fish and therefore not as good for you. Farm raised tilapia are lacking certain nutrition that the fish from the sea have.
Just a quick tidbit of interesting information, tilapia is believed to be the fish Peter fed to the people in the Bible.
As for potatoes, they have a much more elaborate history. They originated in Peru and came to North America in sixteen twenty-one. Americans eat, on average, a total, sixty-six pounds of frozen and dehydrated potatoes per person per year (now I might just be a tad bit under that amount ;)) The basic nutritional facts for this veggie are: one hundred and ten calories, zero fat, six hundred and twenty milligrams of potassium and twenty six grams of carbohydrates (acording to http://www.idahopotato.com/nutrition_facts). Apparently the leaves of a potato plant are poisonous so DON'T EAT THEM!
Now that I am completely and totally aware about the history of what I'm gonna ingest (even if I'm a tad bit disgusted and/or scared by it) I can cook the meal.
My mom was completely on board with the idea of me using the kitchen. It's one less day that she has to cook. But when I went to turn on the stove for the potatoes, it wouldn't light! My dad had to come and look at it and he spent about an half hour just tinkering with it, trying to get it to work. We ended up just taking a lighter and lighting the gas. However, when I finally got cooking the road bumps didn't stop. The tilapia was still frozen! Unsure of what to do, I called my mother because I didn't want to ruin perfectly good frozen fish. Her suggestion was defrosting it in the microwave and since I couldn't think of a better more efficient way, I took her advice.
Next on the list was preparing the 'taters. Step one, peel them. I got real lucky on this step: we just happen to own a electric peeler! So while those were peeling, I was giving the tilapia a beat down (actually I was taking it out of the package and washing it in the sink to get rid of any preservatives and germs).
After all that was done I focused only on making the mashed potatoes. Taking out a nice big knife (hehehehe) and a cutting board, I chopped the potatoes into cubes and added them into the pot with water. For the time being, that was all that I could do.
It was then time to get the fish in the oven. I put each fillet on the baking sheet and added some butter on top of each one. While that was cooking I wanted to ask my mom for more information about the dish and her personal thoughts on it.
First thing's first, I wanted to know where these recipes came from so I asked (what better way is there to get answers?). She said that they both came from my grandmother and she used to make the potatoes as a child. She also told me that she likes to make the tilapia the most because it is easy to make and the mashed potatoes are too much work. When I asked her how often she makes each recipe, she said that she makes tilapia a couple of times a month and the potatoes twice a month (I don't think so!) and always on major holidays (like Christmas and Thanksgiving). She also told me that she likes to eat the mashed potatoes more than the fish.
I also wanted to know if she can make tilapia any other way and surprisingly the answer was yes, she can make it grilled and breaded. And she can also make mashed potatoes another way, instantly (what has this world come to where people can make an originanlly home-made meal by just adding water!)!!
Finally, the mashed potatoes were ready for the second part of cooking: the mashing part. Separating the water from the 'taters proved to be quite challenging. Apparently a huge pot filled to the brim with water is very heavy and it spills quite easily all over the floor... Anyway the water was out of the pot and that was all that mattered.
Just for future reference, using an electric mixer and putting it on high and in the potatoes while slowly adding milk is NOT a good idea. It will end up all over the counter and walls... Also don't leave the mixer on and unattended to take the fish out of the oven, it never ends well.
The potatoes were creamy and tilapia was cooked, then the cowbell rang and the eating began. My family enjoyed the meal but I didn't. The tilapia tasted like fish (go figure) and the potatoes had a bland taste and weird texture (I don't even know how to explain it). It was thick and creamy which didn't go over well with my tummy, but I was a good girl and ate everything on my plate.
As the old expression goes 'I cooked you clean' and it is used quite frequently in my house, today was no exception. I cooked the meal so everyone else had to clean. So I did what my dad usually does: sit on the couch and watch T.V. The only difference? I was trying really hard not to throw up. I will NEVER eat that again!!
This was a great experience for me. I got to learn some new recipes that might one day come in handy and I had fun doing it. I found out some information that I never knew, and that one day might save mine or somebody else's life and a couple of pieces of information that I wish I still didn't know. Even after all that, I am still a picky eater and probably always will be.
Tilapia:
Ingrediants:
four Tilapia Filets
one cup of sliced baby bella mushrooms
one and a half cups of Italian flavored bread crumbs
four tablespoons of butter melted
six tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
one and a fourth cup of Marsala Wine
one clove minced garlic
one and a half teaspoon garlic powder
one fourth teaspoon of black pepper, cayenne pepper and salt
two tablespoons of grated cheese
fresh chopped parsley for on top of fish
Place fish laying flat in an oil sprayed two inch baking dish. In a bowl mix bread crumbs, grating cheese, garlic, spices, and three tablespoons of olive oil. Top each piece of fish with breading mixture then mushrooms. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top of each piece of fish. In a seperate bowl, mix Marsala, butter and the rest of the olive oil and pour around fish, saving a little for the top and drizzle more butter sauce over fish. Bake at three hundred and fifty until browned and fish flakes with fork..about thrity five to fourty five minutes.
Momma's recipe
Ingredients:
one tablespoon of butter for every one fillet of tilapia
Put the tilapia on a baking pan and add the butter one each piece. Put in the oven at three hundred and fifty degrees for about twenty minutes or until fish is flaky.
Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
one medium head cauliflower
one tablespoon cream cheese, softened
one and one fourth cup grated Parmesan
one and a half teaspoon minced garlic
one and a half teaspoon salt
one eighth teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
one and a half teaspoon chopped fresh or dry chives, for garnish
three tablespoons unsalted butter
Set a stockpot of water to boil over high heat. Clean and cut the cauliflower into small pieces. Cook in boiling water for about six minutes, or until well done. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan and cook the garlic until fragrant, about one minute. Drain the cauliflower well; do not let cool and pat it very dry between several layers of paper towels. In the bowl of a food processor, puree the hot cauliflower with the cream cheese, parmesan, butter, garlic, salt, and pepper until almost smooth. Garnish with chives, if desired.
Momma's recipe
Ingredients:
five pounds of russet potatoes
one fourth cup of butter
milk
Peel and wash the potatoes then cut them into cubes. Place in a large pot with water on medium heat then cover. Cook until potatoes break apart with a fork. Drain the water from the pan and add butter. Mash with a mixer. Add milk, while mixing, until smooth.
