Wednesday dinner

Number five in a series of seven dinners.

I'm all confused now because I did the shopping on Saturday. Normally, I don't shop until Monday, by Thursday I need to make a quick refill trip to the supermarket, and by Friday we're all out of ideas and the weekend sort of looks after itself. So in my head yesterday was at least Thursday, and I was feeling that we needed something a little chaste after all that cheese and pasta and creamy stuff.

(It was pointed out in the comments that a green salad would have rounded out yesterday's meal nicely. Indeed it would have. But I don't like salad much, and it's fiddly, and if I can't get the vegetables into the same dish I'm making anyway, then we can do without the extra vitamins for that day. If it makes you feel better, you are free to believe that I had salad for lunch.)

So yesterday I got some fish, which always makes me feel virtuous, and doesn't go very well with cheese, so it usually ends up being quite healthy. I made a quick crumb topping and cooked quinoa and peas to go with it. These are tilapia fillets. I'd never heard of tilapia before we moved to Texas, but it's a very mild-tasting white fish. (Excuse the darkness of the photo.)

I put some panko breadcrumbs in a bowl with a little lemon zest, oregano, salt and pepper, mixed it with about a tablespoon of melted butter, and spread it on top of the fish. 

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until the fish is opaque and the breadcrumbs aren't burnt. (In retrospect, I should have buttered or oiled the tinfoil under the fish.)

Cook quinoa. If you're not familiar with this grain, it's just like cooking basmati rice: twice as much water as quinoa, simmer for ten minutes. It's an interesting texture, a little chewier than rice and a great source of extra protein. (If only I could get the kids to eat it.)

Nuke frozen peas with some water, about two minutes.

I didn't expect the quinoa to go particularly well with the breaded fish, but in the end the two melded really nicely. I mixed the peas into the quinoa and put the fish on top, and the whole bite was scrummy.