citrus tilapia with mango salsa

Citrus tilapia with mango salsa and black bean & corn salad

This post may as well be called "the art of enjoying leftovers" because I made this meal, less the fish, entirely from remnants of Sunday's black bean & corn enchilada supper.  However, the food is totally inverted in this recipe, so I didn't even feel like I was eating the same thing.  Sunday's main dish (the enchilada stuffing) became last night's side, and Sunday's salad (mango) became a part of the main attraction.  The seasoning, texture and temperature were different as well, which also helped disguise the "leftover" aspect.  The final product is a light but satisfying dinner, perfect for a mid-week meal.  Even better is that tilapia cooks lightening fast on my George Foreman!

I have made this mango tilapia recipe several times before to rave reviews, so I bought the ingredients for the salsa on my last trip to the store, fully intending to prepare the fish this week.  However, I ended up making the salsa and throwing it over spinach as a last-ditch attempt at a side dish for Sunday's enchilada dinner.  (See....another non-traditional salad!)  Luckily, there was some salad left over, so I got to enjoy the mango tilapia recipe in the end anyway!

For one tilapia filet, I just sprinkled each side with cumin and Goya Adobo seasoning.  Then, I whisked together equal parts lemon juice and lime juice and a drizzle of olive oil and poured it over the tilapia filet.  I refrigerated it for just about twenty minutes and threw it on the George Foreman for about two minutes on each side.  I then topped it with the mango salsa recipe, as follows.

Mango Salsa
Serves 2-3

1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 red onion OR a handful of green onions, chopped
2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste 

Combine the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

I wish I could keep writing, but I have things to do.  I have been really STRESSED OUT the past couple of weeks and have far too much on my plate (sorry, couldn't resist the pun), so I better get to work knocking things off my to-do list.  Hopefully I'll be a member of the Clean Plate Club by the end of the next week (okay, maybe that was overkill.)  Before I leave, a few things:

1.  The blog has reached over 1,000 page views!  It's REALLY time for you stealth readers to leave some comments before I install a real-time location feed on my page :)
2.  I am REALLY glad Whitney comes back from vacay tonight....I have missed my taste tester and editor-in-chief!  I am normally quite the grammarian, but I typically write my posts at 11pm and save them on Blogger to be automatically posted the next morning.  Considering I am up every day at 6am, by that point of the night, I'm exhausted.  Apparently, I haven't caught all of my mistakes because last night she texted me with a pretty embarrassing spelling mistake on one of my earlier entries....shame on y'all for not pointing it out!
3.  A very close friend of mine has been battling some serious and scary health issues recently.  I don't want to name her here because she's the selfless mama bear-type who wouldn't want anyone to worry about her.  She will be okay in the long run, but right now she's having a bit of a difficult recovery.  It would mean the world to me if you could please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  To that person, I love you and I'm sending good vibes your way and thinking about you always!

With that, I hope I didn't kill your buzz.  Make the mango tilapia for dinner tonight and I promise you'll be on high again!  Until tomorrow!