Tilapia Tinfoil dinners

For the first time ever, I have a garden.  And not one of those fake plastic aquarium gardens... a garden that actually produces things that you can eat!  And even though I mistakenly cared for a weed for awhile because I thought it was a basil plant, the plants that I intended to grow have grown abundantly.  So yesterday I harvested my first zucchini (a big baseball bat of a thing that created a huge dinner and enough shredded stuff for zucchini muffins).  We also have some great cherry tomato plants.  And I had bought some tilapia earlier in the week.  And Richard had given me a challenge to only spend $60 on groceries that week. Naturally, I was looking for a recipe that would incorporate what I already had on hand.  I found this recipe and was really happy with the results.  So was Richard.  We had almost no leftovers.  We baked it in the oven, but this could easily be a grill or campfire dinner.  The original recipe had each tilapia filet in its own individual tinfoil packet, but I decided to bake the whole thing together and conserve foil. I served the tilapia and roasted vegetables over a simple pasta that was tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and parmesan cheese.

Tinfoil tilapia with roasted vegetables (adapted from cooksillustrated.com)

1 lb zucchini sliced crossways into 1/4 inch rounds (cut rounds into quarters if your zucchini is huge)

8 oz mushrooms, sliced and lightly sauteed (in frying pan for about 5 minutes) and set aside

8 oz of tomatoes, chopped (about a cup) (any kind will do)

2 TBSP olive oil

salt and pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves

1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes

4 TBSP dried white wine or lemon juice (I used lemon juice)

1 lb tilapia filets (I had about 5 filets in mine)

Toss zucchini with salt and place in colander for 30 minutes to drain while you prepare the rest of the ingredients and while the oven preheats to 450 degrees.  The zucchini will release a few TBSP of liquid-- just drain and blot dry with paper towels.

Toss the tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp of pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic together in a bowl.  Sprinkle the tilapia filets with a little additional salt and pepper.

Tear off a large sheet of aluminum foil and place on the counter, spread your zucchini slices evenly in the middle of the foil, leaving a sizeable edge of foil around the zucchini so that you have room to fold.  Drizzle the lemon juice or white wine evenly among the zucchini.  Top with the tilapia filets, the mushrooms and the tomato mixture.  Place another equally large piece of foil on the top and gently fold each side of the foil to form a large, sealed packet.  Or you can do 4 smaller packets with equal parts of each of the ingredients, layered in the same manner.

Place the packet on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes for the large packet.  Remove from the oven, cut a slit in the top and let the steam escape.  Serve on its own, over pasta, or with rice or potatoes.  Its a winner no matter how you look at it.