Eat More Broccoli, and Some Fish Too

Yes more broccoli. I must be on a broccoli kick. My parents would be shocked. I especially enjoyed last night when Rose told me she didn't want any broccoli, even saying the word and pointing to it. It's funny because she has never had it before.

Last night we had Broccoli-Parmesan Gratin, a tuned up Italian casserole and Cilantro-Chipotle Tilapia, a spicy Latin inspired dish . Two dishes that really don't pair together well, but I didn't care, it's what I wanted.

Both of these dishes are quick and easy. I even got lucky in my lack of planning because I made the gratin first which finishes under the broiler which I then used to cook the fish while the gratin rested. Sometimes you just get lucky.

If you put steamed broccoli on my plate, I'll look at it, chop the stalks off, salt it and eat the florets happily. You make it into a casserole, especially with CHEESE, and I'll devour it. This one was no exception. If I had any complaint it was that there wasn't enough of the cheese sauce, maybe next time I'd double it. And maybe because it seemed under-cheesed it seemed like too much bread crumb. But really I'm nit picking, it was delicious.

But the star of the meal was the fish. I love fish even if I rarely eat it. I ate a lot as a kid. I'll go out of my way for smelt, perch or pan fried bluegills, but I find most restaurants' fish choices to be ho-hum and stuffings and breadings on top do nothing for me. But I really dislike cooking fish. I find it messy and it stinks the house up.

Not so with this dish!

To me this was the kind of dish that you would be served in a restaurant. It tasted like I had hit a home run out of the park. I know I blew Dinah's socks off. But there are a couple caveats. I have learned there are two types of people in the world, those that love cilantro and those that hate cilantro. We LOVE it, can't have enough. This dish is packed with it, especially since I made a cilantro rice to serve the tilapia on. Also, we love hot and spicy food. This dish did pack a punch, it was WARM. Man it was good. The only reason I didn't have seconds was that I wanted to send leftovers with Dinah to work in hopes of getting another opinion.

If you want to give either of these recipes a shot, and they are worth it, especially if you are entertaining or need to bring a dish, here is my version of the Broccoli Parmesan Gratin and my version of the Cilantro Chipotle Tilapia.

Enjoy.