Tilapia with Mushrooms and Ham Cream sauce

We often cook tilapia marinated with a simple vinaigrette or with an assortment of spices, but I wanted to do something more interesting. I grabbed Jamie's Food Revolutionand found "Bacon and Mushroom Cream Sauce" on page 270.

I'm not a big bacon fan, so I've used ham in this recipe. However, it's one of our less successful results. The ham felt too bulky and its fried crunch was a strange contrast to the soft mushrooms. Next time, I'll either skip the ham or just fry it less to prevent any crispiness.

Additionally, my cream sauce looks wildly different from the version in Jamie's book. I made several substitutions, but I think replacing crème fraîche with whipping cream didn't give the expected result: Jamie's looked more like soup in the book and mine was more like a stew. Regardless, it worked well served on top of fish and rice.

Main

• 2 tilapia fillets
• vinaigrette -- any kind, I prefer store-bought citrus-base vinaigrette
• cooked rice

Sauce

• olive oil
• 4 slices ham, julienne
• 1/2 lb of a variety of mushrooms, roughly chopped -- I used button, oyster, and enoki
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 1/2 small red chile, seeded and sliced
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup whipping cream -- or heavy cream

Four slices of ham sliced into thin strips

It's mushrooms-chile-thyme

I ground peppercorns in my mortar to get coarser pepper

Directions

• Put the tilapia in a dish and cover with vinaigrette. Marinate overnight if desired.
• Add some oil to a pan on medium heat.
• Add fish and fry until cooked through.

• Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.
• Pick leaves from thyme and discard stalks.
• Add oil to pan on medium heat.
• Add ham to pan and fry until it crisps a bit.
• Add mushrooms, chile, and thyme to the ham. Fry for a few minutes.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add whipping cream. Bring to a boil and then simmer for a minute.

• Serve tilapia with rice and cover with sauce.

This post is based on a published recipe. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.