W is for: Winter Citrus Salsa with Pistachio Crusted White Fish

Eating out every night for two weeks really makes me realize how much I love to cook. Sure, we ate at some fantastic restaurants in Scottsdale, AZ (and you can check them out by clicking here), but I'm happy to be back home in my kitchen. (Tiny as it may be).

I wanted to make a winter citrus salsa for "W week," and I was going to leave it at just that. But the night I made it, I was cooking for my friend Andrea, and the fish turned out so yummy, I had to include that too. But since I didn't take any photos of it on Friday, I made it again Sunday and it was just as tasty. (That's how much I liked this dish).

Overall, this is a pretty light and healthy dish, and it works great anytime of the year depending on what citrus is in season. I used tilapia, but any white fish would be great! (Or even salmon!)

First up, the salsa. I chose grapefruit, Satsuma tangerine, and blood oranges as the citrus. I also added some shallots, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeño and endive. I have no idea why I added endive, other than I was in the produce section and grabbed one, but it was a delicious addition.

Aren't blood oranges so cool? I feel like they are the mysterious and exotic cousin to regular oranges. As my co-worker Andy put it, they sort of remind me of sangria. He made blood orange mojitos our last night in Arizona, and it inspired me to use them as the main ingredient in my citrus salsa.

I segmented 3 blood oranges, half a grapefruit, a tangerine, and mixed in a shallot, 4 endive leaves, a chopped jalapeño, and some lime juice. I also used some of the citrus juice, but I saved the majority of it for the tilapia.

As for that tilapia...I could have just seared or baked it, but that's boring and no fun. I had some already-shelled pistachios in the pantry, so I used the chopper attachment of my immersion blender and chopped them up, along with some panko bread crumbs. Before dredging the tilapia filets in the nut/bread crumbs, I dipped them in a mixture of citrus juice, zest, and dijon mustard. I pan fried them on each side to lightly brown the outside, and finished them off in the oven.

The result? Flakey, nutty tilapia with a sweet and tangy citrus salsa on top. This would pair prefectly with green beans and a crisp and fruity Sauvignon Blanc.

Winter Citrus Salsa with Pistachio Crusted White Fish

by Jaymee Sire

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: bake fry entree blood orange tilapia fish pistachio

Ingredients

• 3 blood oranges
• 1/2 grapefruit
• 1 satsuma tangerine
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 4 endive leaves, chopped
• juice of half a lime
• 1 cup shelled pistachios
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 4 tilapia filets (or your favorite white fish)
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Zest the blood oranges. Set zest aside in a small bowl. Peel and segment the oranges, grapefruit, and tangerine. Collect extra juice from the citrus and add to the zest.
2. Mix together the citrus segments with jalapeño, shallot, cilantro, endive, and lime juice. Season to taste with salt. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Combine nuts and panko in a food processor and buzz until finely chopped and well blended.
4. Combine zest, juice, and 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard in a shallow dish. Put nut mixture in a second dish.
5. Season each piece of tilapia with salt and pepper. Dip in the citrus-Dijon mixture and then dredge in the nut mixture. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or until ready to cook.
6. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
7. Heat olive oil in a large fry pan (preferably oven safe). Fry each piece of fish for 2-3 minutes on each side (until nuts start to brown) and transfer to oven. Cook 5-10 minutes longer, or until fish easily flakes with a fork.
8. Top with citrus salsa and serve!

Powered by Recipage