As in all of my posts, if you need to follow a recipe exactly, this blog will frustrate you. Quit reading it now. My recipe measurements are only suggestions - please modify the ingredients and amounts as you see fit. If it works, Great! If it sucks, that's not my fault - you've been warned....
So, a couple of days ago I was in Chicago at a business group meeting. For lunch, we had several choices. One of the choices was a mexican course with a tomatillo and avacado remulade, and an unrelated fish course. I happened to pick the Tilapia course, and by accident instead of picking the intended sauce / malt vinegar, I got the tomatla saouce. I put the tomatillo sauce on the Tilapia, and it was AWESOME!
I replicated it at home, and here's how I made it. I started with butterfly-split Tilapia fillets, then I cut them in half again laterally (with a fillet knife - about 1/4" thick). Then I put them in a plastic bag with a lot of Italian dressing, and let them marinate for a couple of hours.
While the fish is marinating, I prepare the tomatillo avacado sauce. The tomatillo avacodo sauce is easy to make, as it only takes 3 or 4 ingredients. Start with Tomatillos. These look like green tomatoes with a tough shell, but are actually not tomatoes. You can get fresh tomatillos, but they need to be a little ripe - if you go with this option, you need to look for soft tomatillos, and blend them in a blender or food processor, addng a litte salt. It's just as easy to use prepared tomatillo sauce in a jar, and you don't have to add any salt. Next, cut up an avacado into small chunks - the avacado needs to be semi-ripe - not mushy like you'd use for quacamole.
Once you cut the avacado into small chunks, add a litte lime or lemon juice to keep it from turning brown, but not enough to affect the flavor. Do not add salt at this point! Mix the avacado and tomatillo sauce together. I add a little cumin powder to the mix, and you could also add a little cilantro.
Now that the Tilapia has marinated, take it out of the bag and roll the fillets up like little volcanoes. In the centers, add the melted butter and italian dressing. Put in the oven for about 10 minutes. Once the fish has cooked, add the butter and dressing to the middle of the fish "volcano".
Great sides with this dish are green beans cooked in sessame seed oit with almonds, or any other bitter greens such as kale, snap peas, etc.
