Southwest Tilapia

I've been watching Iron Chef America again. To be honest, all that I remember is a square of fish (probably swordfish) perched atop a square of grilled pineapple. I suppose in retrospect I could go back and watch the episode again, but I doubt it would make me stay any truer to the dish that inspired me. I guess it's better that more of it is my own creation.

I decided to go with a rectangle instead of a square. I didn't have any swordfish so I went with tilapia. At least I did grill the pineapple, but not the fish. I cut it to the same length as the pineapple, oiled it down, sprinkled it with Kosher salt and chile powder, and then sauteed it. For a sauce, I blended together some papaya, heavy cream and a little chipotle Tabasco.

The pineapple went down on the plate and the tilapia went on top of it. I added a couple of spoonfuls of tropical salsa, and then garnished the plate with my sauce and a little chopped cilantro.



In retrospect, I think the sauce and the cilantro made a perfectly nice-looking plate look pretty messy. On the plus side, the flavor did compliment the rest of the dish quite well. I also wish I would have had a circular white plate to contrast the sharper angles of the pineapple and the fish, instead of my squarish white plate. But hey, practice makes perfect, right?