Fish-Rice

fish-rice

When I was growing up, I ate fish a few times a year, and it was always on Fridays during Lent. I remember not understanding why we had to eat fish… “but we’re just not supposed to eat meat, so can’t we just have cheese pizza or cheese enchiladas?” For some reason, no, it was a day for fish.

If we were out of town, we looked for a Long John Silver’s, or a catfish parlor. I tried lots of fish sandwiches from many fast food restaurants, and I ate lots of baked fish plates from Furr’s Cafeteria.

But sometimes, we ate fish at home. There are two main fish meals that I remember: my dad’s ceviche and my mom’s lemony baked fish with rice. I just called it Fish-Rice. I remember it seemed exotic, because it had mushrooms in it, and we never ate mushrooms. In fact, I’m not sure my mom used mushrooms in anything except this dish.

So anyway, I got some free tilapia filets at Central Market with one of their coupons, and I decided it was time to make Fish-Rice. My mom’s recipe is hand-written and wonderful; of course I made some adaptations, and I’ve included my recipe below. I love the brightness of the lemon, and the bits of celery and mushroom. I love that it’s a simple casserole with lots of flavor. I love that it reminds me of my mom. Someday soon I’ll need to get my dad’s ceviche recipe, too.

Mom’s Lemony Baked Fish with Rice

  • 1 pound tilapia fillets
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1/2 small onion, diced
  • 8 ounces white or cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 3 cups cooked brown rice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
  • Juice and grated zest of 1 large lemon

Cook celery, onion and mushrooms in butter until softened. Toss with rice and remaining ingredients, except fish.

Coat a 9 x 12-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Lay fish fillets in one layer in the dish; top with the rice mixture. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Makes 4 – 6 servings.

Source: my mama.

5 responses to “Fish-Rice”

  1. I LLLOOOVVVEEE Fish Rice!

  2. We did not grow up eating much fish because of the cost. It was a holiday/religious kind of thing.
    I have grown to love tilapia. I think your mamma’s recipe sounds yummy!
    Ciao

  3. Fish Rice looks simple and delicious. We didn’t have fish much growing up, either, but now I love all types!

  4. Hello,

    We bumped into your blog and we really liked it – great recipes YUM!!! YUM!!!.
    We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.

    We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us,
    enjoy your recipes.

    Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members
    and benefit from their exposure on Petitchef.com.

    To add your site to the Petitchef family you can use http://en.petitchef.com/?obj=front&action=site_ajout_form or just go to Petitchef.com and click on “Add your site”

    Best regards,

    Vincent
    petitchef.com

  5. Fish rice sounds delicious…when i was in india my mother often does this….uphere in U.S. it is very hard to find ingredients….however one of my friend introduced me to a great resource http://www.myethnicworld.com and i thought that i pass great along as well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *