Kitchen Concoctions

on a mission to help people gain confidence in the kitchen





  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Featured Work
    • Work With Me
    • Contact
    • FAQ
    • Classes
    • Privacy Policy and Disclosures
  • Recipe Index
  • Crafty Concoctions
    • Crafty Concoctions
    • Party Planning & Entertaining
    • DIY Beauty Treatments
    • Gifts/Gift Baskets
    • Kids Crafty Concoctions
  • Holiday
    • New Year’s
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • 4th Of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Fit Kitchen
    • Fit Kitchen
    • Fitness
    • Healthy Eats
  • Kitchen Adventures
    • Travel
    • Austin, Texas
    • Texas
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Foodie Field Trip
    • Date Night
  • Dishin’ It Up
    • Dishin’ It Up
    • Kickin’ the Bucket
    • Bites with Bloggers

Baked Tilapia with Arugula and Pecan Pesto

June 22, 2012

My am secretly very jealous
of my friend “V.” Of her and her TWO huge and over growing basil
plants. I have a dark brown black thumb and can’t grow anything.

Any.thing.

So every time I go to
her house and see her large glorious green basil plant that smells divine, all
I can think of is how much I love basil and love pesto and hate her for having
a green thumb and hate the fact that I have to pay like gold for basil at the
grocery store instead of it magically growing in my backyard.

But as I have
mentioned all week that while the basic ingredients of pesto sauce are basil,
pine nuts, parmesan cheese and olive oil; pesto is very interchangeable and easily
adaptable.

I love today’s recipe
and version of pesto using arugula and pecans in lieu of basil and pine nuts.
The arugula adds a nice bit of peppery spice and the pecans add a buttery and
slightly earthy flavor.

This is an extremely
fast and affordable meal. If you are on a time crunch at dinner you can always
make the pesto ahead of time and then have dinner in way less than 30 minutes.

Looking for more ways
to change up your pesto or tips for storing pesto check this out!

One Year Ago: Tropical
Sangria

Two Years Ago: Beef
‘n’ Bean Burrito Burgers

Three Years Ago:
Silky
Mashed Taters with Bacon

Baked Tilapia with Arugula and Pecan Pesto
Printable Version
 
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Serves: 4

3 cups arugula leaves, rinsed and dried

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoon grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper and salt, to taste

4 (6.0 ounce) fillets tilapia

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.

Combine 3 cups arugula, garlic, pecans, olive oil, 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, black pepper and salt in a blender or food processor and blend until it reaches the consistency of a pesto sauce.

Place the tilapia fillets in prepared pan. Spread the pesto generously on top of fillets. Sprinkle each fillet with 1/2 tablespoon of remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Bake in preheated oven until fish flakes easily, about 20 minutes.

adapted from Food on the Table

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Related

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: $10 (or less) Dinners, 30 Minutes (or less) meals, Main Dish- Fish/Seafood, Uncategorized

« Pesto Cornbread Muffins
Kids in the Kitchen: Read It, Eat It: Green Eggs and Ham »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


Hi Y'all, welcome to Kitchen Concoctions!

We are on a mission to help people gain confidence in the kitchen and inspire others to cook, craft and create life long memories with friends and family around the dinner table!

Here you will find family friendly recipes inspired by rich southern flavors and Texas grown ingredients.
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Never miss a post!

Subscribe via email!

Blog Archives

©2009-2025. Kitchen Concoctions. All rights reserved. All photography and content are copyright protected. Material may not be duplicated or republished. Please do not use my images without prior written permission. If you would like to share a recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and provide appropriate credit with a direct link back to the original recipe on Kitchen Concoctions. Or simply link to the full recipe on Kitchen Concoctions. Thank you!

Site Design By designer blogs