Baked Tilapia with Veggies

On the day after Thanksgiving (yes, black friday), we stopped at Costco to pick up some rolls for Thanksgiving dinner #2. (Seriously, who shops when you can eat more?) And we totally lucked out! It turns out Costco gives out free cookbooks every year, and we happened to get one just because we were there. And woo-ee! This is book is amazing - I've made a handful of the recipes out of it so far, and everyone of them was a total winner. It helps that this year was a "best-of" book, but still, they're just amazing. Now, there's no reason to feel bad for yourself that you didn't happen on one of them, though, because all of the cookbooks are posted on Costco's website. As in, you read it just like a digital book so you have the pictures and everything. Just go to costco.com and enter "cookbooks" in the search box. 2011 is the one we have, but I imagine they're all good. Now you're all as lucky as we are.

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Here's a great recipe we tried last week. "Baked Tilapia with Lemon, Garlic and Lavender" (See the picture at the link.) You can use any fish - tilapia is pretty mild, so it's good for non fish lovers, but whatever you can find at a reasonable price should go nicely (hopefully seafood is slightly cheaper in Houston than around here). Fish is so good for you, and easy for kids to eat. This dish has tons of veggies (add more if you want), and if you serve it along with some brown or wild rice or other whole grain, you're in business for an incredibly healthy, mighty tasty meal.

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Ingredients:

4 tilapia fillets (if frozen, thaw)

4 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste

1 tsp curry powder

1 Tbsp freshly grated lemon zest

1/2 tsp salt (plus more to taste)

ground pepper to taste

1 tsp olive oil (plus more for drizzling)

1 lb mixed vegetables, chopped or sliced into bite-size pieces

lavender blossoms

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Directions

Preheat oven to 375.

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Place thawed fillets in a baking dish lined with parchment paper.

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In a bowl, combine garlic paste, curry powder, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and oil. Rub this mixture into the fillets.

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Arrange vegetables around the fillets. (I used a thawed bag of frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots then added some sliced red onion, but you can use whatever suits your fancy.) Sprinkle the vegetables and fillets with additional oil, lavender, and salt and pepper to taste (in place of the lavender, which I could not find, I used herbs de provence).

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Bake for 15 minutes, or until the fish is just cooked through. The vegetables may still be very firm, which is a nice contrast to the softness of the fish.