Pan Roasted Tilapia with Rosemary and Lemon

After fighting off a nasty cold for the better part of the week, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate my newly returned senses of smell and taste with some nice, lighter aromatic fare. I'd intended to try Michael Symon's Fennel, Garlic and Rosemary poached halibut, but couldn't find any fennel. It also turned out that I'd apparently opted for the bag full of frozen tilapia, rather than the more expensive halibut at my last trip to Costco.

(Sidenote: Costco carries a varying selection of flash frozen, individual vacuum sealed frozen fish that retain fairly high quality for an extended period of time - can't recommend it enough if you're like me and don't always get around to preparing that fresh cut of meat or fish in a timely manner. The tuna's hit and miss, but I've gotten great results from mahi mahi, halibut, tilapia, grouper, sea bass, steelhead, and salmon).

Heating up the pan

So, I pulled out the fish to thaw, and lo and behold, I'd purchased Tilapia loins, rather than fillets. I kind of know my way around a cow or pig, but I'd never heard of fish loin before. Long story short, it was pretty long, not wide at all, and rather thick. Loin shaped, indeed. While I'd generally sauté tilapia fillet (a few minutes each side over medium in olive oil works pretty good for most preparations), I was concerned about cooking the loin all the through. This seemed like a good opportunity to test out some pan roasting techniques I'd been reading about of late.

Matzah Ball Soup (Not Kosher for passover)

Fun Fact: I don't eat cheeseburgers.

While I really just have a complex relationship with cheese, most people assume that I, like many jews, keep kosher. For the uninitiated, the Kashrut is a set of dietary laws governing what jews should eat, and how they should prepare and prepare for meals.I take no issue with these practices. Some of my favorite things, like the practice of bathing daily and kosher-style deli derive from observation of the Kashrut, or "keeping kosher." However, observation of kosher law requires that most of what makes meat taste good is removed during preparation, and that some foods, like pork (bacon!), scavengers and bottom feeders (catfish!), and shellfish (shellfish!) are "treif," and unfit for consumption. I have enormous respect for people that go to significant lengths to observe the kashrut in an increasingly secular world, but as should be abundantly clear, keeping kosher falls strictly in the "not for me" column (bacon!). Nontheless, I extend my sincere apologies for my extremely unkosher interpretation of this jewish standard. Look away.