Mexican Talapia

With Laurie Lufkin

(from Laurie Lufkin, by Heather Atwood, Food For Thought)

Laurie Lufkin produces a recipe a week for her cable access program, but also has taken her talent for adapting recipes into the full-flavored world of cooking contests, becoming one of 31 finalists in the contest presided over by Gorton’s Seafood. For their Recipe Renovation Contest, Lufkin created this recipe. I confess I make this all the time now. The concept is brilliant - the crispiness of the chips, like a first-class cornmeal dredge, over a salad packed tightly with South of the Border Tastes: lime, cilantro, agave syrup, avacado (I put mango in my salad, too.) It’s like an unwrapped fish taco with a healthy ratio of fish and flavor-punched greens - the delicious center - to corn chip.

Ingredients

For the Dressing:
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons agave nectar
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup canola oil
Salt and pepper to taste

For the Fish:
1 egg white
1/4 cup skim milk
1 1/2 cups reduced fat tortilla chip crumbs
1 6.3 oz Gorton’s Roasted Garlic & Butter Grilled Tilapia
2 tablespoons canola oil
5 cups mixed salad greens
1 cup sliced grape tomatoes
1 avocado, cubed
1/2 yellow bell pepper, cleaned and thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Lime wheels for garnish, if desired

Instructions

1. First, prepare the dressing. Combine limejuice, vinegar, agave nectar, cumin and cilantro in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. While whisking, slowly drizzle in oil and whisk until well blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate until ready to use.
2. In a shallow dish such as a pie plate, whisk together egg white and skim milk. Set aside. Pour crushed tortilla chips into another shallow dish and season with freshly ground pepper to taste. Set aside.
3. Remove Gorton’s Roasted Garlic & Butter Grilled Tilapia from pouch and place in a microwave safe dish. Using the defrost setting on the microwave, defrost the fillets. Do not allow fillets to cook.
4. Heat canola oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Gently coat fillets with milk and egg mixture then gently press fillets in to crushed tortilla chips. If fillets separate be sure to coat all sides of the fish with the crumb mixture.
5. Gently place crusted fish in hot oil and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes on the first side and 2 to 3 minutes on the second side, until crumbs are lightly browned and fish is cooked through.
6. In the meantime, divide salad greens, sliced tomatoes, avocado and bell peppers between two serving plates. When fish is cooked, place fillets on top of greens on each plate and drizzle fish and greens with desired amount of cilantro lime vinaigrette. Garnish with lime if desired.

Recipe courtesy of Laurie Lufkin, Inspired Cooking, 2010.

From Food For Thought Column about Laurie by Heather Atwood:

Her mother and grandmother taught her to cook. She is teaching her daughter, 9-year-old Lilly, to cook, but the sensible checkered-apron imagery stops there when describing Essex resident Laurie Lufkin. The energy spilling from her Cape Ann TV cable access program, "Inspired Cooking," should be harnessed and re-sold by National Grid. Admittedly unschooled in culinary arts, Laurie Lufkin, 44, is an example of someone who has found her niche and is powered by her passion. Her instincts for a good recipe, for taste and texture combinations, make up for her lack of formal education.

Her vivacity is clearly fueled by love; Laurie loves and is brilliant at recognizing a good recipe, and then making it a blue-ribbon winner. Her grandmother's Essex clam cakes for example: Two years ago Laurie took this recipe, added clam broth and cream to her version, and turned it into something Food Network-competitive, landing her on the program's "Ultimate Recipe Showdown — Hometown Favorites." Laurie didn't win the $25,000, but getting to be one of four finalists from around the country wasn't bad for a girl who runs a silk-screen business and whose hobby seems to have long ago out-raced her vocation.

When she insists I understand that her mother taught her how to cook, that she makes wonderful chicken soups, legendary pumpkin and date nut bread, that she made a great dinner every night with few resources, I listen.

The apple does not fall far from the tree as Laurie's daughter Lily recently appeared on national TV and a national parenting magazine with a recipe she created called "Monkey Business Chocolate Rice Pudding."

Laurie's recipes have appeared in such publications as "Taste of Home," "Family Circle" and will she will be featured in an upcoming issue of "Yankee Magazine."

Contact Heather at heatheraa@aol.com. Her blog is at gloucestertimes.com/foodforthought