Lemon Pepper Tilapia Pasta Primavera

This spring dish is light and refreshing. It's bowl food, a kind of hot pasta salad main dish. Fresh ingredients are key here. No frozen short cuts this time!

It can be made using a skillet and one pot of boiling, salted water if you're strategic with your order of operations, minimizing dishes to wash and time to prepare. Use penne rigate to hold the light sauce and flat baby spinach that won't clump up like curly spinach.

1 lb tilapia fillet
1/2 lb asparagus, cut on the bias to match the length of the penne pasta
1/2 lb baby spinach
1/2 lb penne rigate pasta
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
3 lemons
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp salt, plus more to add to boiling water
2 tsp fresh, coarsely ground black pepper

4 servings

In a large mixing bowl, juice the lemons and whisk in half of the cilantro, half of the onion, all of the garlic paste, all of the olive oil, salt, pepper.

Marinate the fish 30 minutes to 1 hour while washing and preparing the other ingredients. (You can cut it into chunks to make it fit into the bowl more easily.) Take the fish out of the marinade and put it in a cold, non-reactive 12-inch skillet.

Meanwh9ile, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Blanch the asparagus for until tender. Remove with a spider (see picture) from the boiling water. Shock in cold water, then drain it, (the spider is good for this, too) and marinate while cooking the fish, adding the remaining onion. Blanch the spinach in the same way for 2 minutes and shock. (Don't marinate the spinach.)

Cook the penne until just short of al dente in the same water (approx. 10 minutes). After dropping the pasta in the water, cook the fish in a skillet until it flakes apart, about 10-15 minutes on medium low heat. Cook the large pieces until opaque and flaky. Separate into big flakes. Stir in the butter and pasta to the skillet. Add lemon marinade and asparagus. Bring to a boil then simmer for 2-3 minutes. Toss in the spinach. The sauce will be thin but flavorful.

I think the leftovers will be good cold, too.

Ceviche

A marinated seafood dish that was inspired by Anzuelo Fino's version.

I made a spicy version and a mild version by dividing between two bowls, and adding the habanero to one bowl. It should be VERY finely diced. This is an extremely hot chili. I seeded and chopped using gloves.

Allow at least 3 hours for the seafood to "cook". You can serve room temperature or chilled.

$8.00 1 lb 16-20 raw frozen easy peel shrimp, peeled and thawed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
$3.00 1/2 lb light sea fish fillets such as whiting, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
$2.00 2 c. frozen mote*
$1.50 10 limes
$0.50 2 lemons
$0.50 1 bunch green onion, chopped
$0.50 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
$0.10 1 habanero chili, seeded (optional)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp salt + more to taste
water

ketchup, Valentina hot sauce for servings to be individually garnished according to taste

Boil mote in enough salted water to cover, about 10 minutes, or until tender. While the corn is boiling, finely chop the cilantro and green onion. Drain the mote and let it cool while juicing the fruit. Mix the garlic, herbs, and mote together in a large bowl. In as small a bowl as will accommodate the shrimp, fish, and juice, fold the fish and shrimp together. Pour the citrus juice over the seafood and mix thoroughly. Mix the mote and seafood/citrus mixtures together. There should be enough juice to cover the whole salad.

After one hour of marinating, taste and adjust salt if necessary. Serve with optional ketchup and hot sauce.

*A kind of large kernel corn, used in South American cuisine. Don't mistake it for maize choclo nor substitute "American" sweet corn. This link shows "white corn" desgranado which is what I used. It's available in regular supermarkets in Jackson Heights. Specialty Latin American supermarkets may be the only source outside the neighborhood.