The day I cooked the chicken and baby portobello mushrooms in tomato and basil sauce, I also cooked this tilapia and baby portobello mushrooms in cream sauce. Why? Wasn’t the chicken dish enough to feed everyone? Well, half of the chicken dish went into freezer containers — part of the girls’ weekly stockpile of cooked food in the condo so, no, what was left wasn’t enough to feed everyone. Ergo, a second dish was required.
But why baby portobello mushrooms again? Because I love mushrooms. And because the mushrooms that went into chicken and baby portobello mushrooms in tomato and basil sauce were only half of the contents of a 200 (or was it 250?) gram pack. Why postpone using the remaining half? After all, mushrooms are best cooked while still very fresh.
For tilapia lovers out there, here is a delightful dish that you can cook in 20 minutes or less. Tilapia fillets, widely available in supermarkets and groceries, are lightly seasoned and cut into cubes then cooked gently in butter and cream with sliced baby portobello mushrooms.
- 2 tilapia fillets about 300 grams total weight
- 8 baby portobello mushrooms
- 1 large onion
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup fish stock
- 1/2 cup cream
- salt to taste
- pepper
- torn parsley for garnish
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Pat the tilapia fillets dry with a kitchen towel. Cut into two-inch cubes. Toss lightly with salt and pepper.
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Slice the mushrooms.
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Peel and roughly chop the onion.
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Heat the butter in a pan. Add the chopped onion and cook gently over medium heat until translucent, about 10 minutes.
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Turn up the heat to high. Add the fish to the pan and cook, stirring gently, for about a minute.
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Add the mushrooms. Pour in the fish stock. Bring to the boil. Simmer for a minute.
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Pour in the cream. Stir gently. Season with salt and pepper. As soon as the sauce boils, turn off the heat. The residual heat will cook the fish and mushrooms through.
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Transfer the tilapia and baby portobello mushrooms in cream sauce to a shallow bowl, garnish with parsley and serve at once.
Fish, especially when cut into small pieces, takes a short amount of time to cook.
If you allow the cream to boil for a long time, curdling will set in and the sauce will not be smooth.
