Orange-Fennel Tilapia with shredded Brussel Sprouts

Alison tried her hand at creating her own recipe tonight, and for the first time, she really felt proud! This elicited, of course, the "Why do we never post on our blog?" conversation. Plus, Brian just bought a camera, so it only made sense to begin putting it to good use...

So, here is the recipe for Alison's Orange-Fennel Tilapia with shredded Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients (serves two):

• Two tilapia fillets
  
• One orange
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• Two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/8 cup water
  
• 10-12 brussel sprouts
• 1 garlic clove
• Pepper to taste

Begin by juicing and zesting the orange into a medium-sized bowl, allowing smaller chunks of orange to remain in the juice. Add one tablespoon of the olive oil, 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, and the fennel, and mix thoroughly. Add the cranberries and stir. Marinade the tilapia in the orange mixture for about a half an hour.

Meanwhile, toast the almonds and wash and cut the brussel sprouts into fine strips.

When the tilapia has marinaded sufficiently, place it in a pan on medium-high heat with about half of the marinade; be sure, however, to include all the cranberries. The marinade will boil down into a nice sauce. Turn after about 3-4 minutes.

Heat up a second pan on medium-high and mince a garlic clove in your remaining tablespoon of olive oil until it barely begins to brown. Add brussel sprouts, water, 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar and toss gently.

In about 3-4 minutes your brussel sprouts will have wilted and the tilapia will be cooked through. Toss about two thirds of the toasted almonds into the brussel sprouts, reserving the rest for garnish.

Serve tilapia over a bed of the brussel sprouts, with cranberries and almonds as garnish.