Thai Cilantro Tilapia

We've spent the last week conquering 9 states in 6 days, adding up to 2,442 miles. And that was only our first road trip of the summer! We left last Tuesday from FL to KY, winding our way back through VA (with a quick day jaunt to MD) and through the Blue Ridge Mountains, until finally taking the long way back to FL.

Needless to say, when we got home, we wanted a simple dinner. Luckily, Will's work schedule has calmed down some, so he was able to clean, grocery shop, and cook for us yesterday. To make life easy, he went to an old staple of ours, a Thai cilantro recipe that works either on chicken or tilapia. I'm surprised I haven't blogged about it before because we use it all the time because we can use either meat and it's easily halved. This recipe drives our cats nuts, especially Emma, and especially when we make it with tilapia. As you'll see it calls for fish sauce, so adding that to fish makes her insane!

Thai Cilantro Tilapia (adapted from Artsy Foodie; serves 2)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro
2 tbsp asian fish sauce or 1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
4 chicken breasts or 4 tilapia fillets

Place the garlic, cilantro, fish sauce, and sesame oil in a food processor and blend until smooth. Place meat in baggie and pour marinade over it, letting it sit for at least 15 minutes in the refrigerator. Prepare your grill (we use our "indoor grill" aka our panini press). Once marinated, cook until temperature registers 165F on meat thermometer (or for tilapia, once it looks cooked through and begins to flake). Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe: Artsy-Foodie: Thai Cilantro Chicken

Will made this with Israeli couscous, kale and cherry tomatoes. He cooked the couscous separately. For the kale, he sauteed the garlic, added the kale, added the tomatoes once the kale had reduced, and finally stirred in the couscous when it was ready. Easy peasy!

Me teaching Emma how to play piano-she does not look this cute when she smells fish!