Crunchy Fish with Lemon Sauce and Brussels Sprouts Stir

Let me start by saying that I had last nights leftovers today for lunch and it was even better today!

Now, on to tonight's meal. I did fish and a side. 

I'll start with the fish. The recipe called for trout or catfish, but I used Tilapia since that is what they had at Trader Joe's. I bought it frozen yesterday, thawed it overnight, and it was ready for dinner. The crunchy crust is panko bread crumbs. I wasn't sure what the big deal was about "panko" bread crumbs since I have never used them before and I almost used the regular bread crumbs I had in the pantry. But since I needed to go to the grocery store anyway, I decided just to see what the fuss was about. Let me tell you, the crunchy crust couldn't have been this crunchy with regular bread crumbs. It was definitely worth taking up extra room in the pantry for the box of panko. 

The recipe included a lemon sauce to dip the fish in. It was delicious, and broth based so pretty healthy as well. 

Now on to the Brussels Sprouts. I love brussels sprouts and always buy them frozen. Today I used fresh because when we were at Trader Joe's on Sunday I found this:

It's a brussels sprout stalk. I didn't even know how brussels sprouts grew. I thought they grew out of the grown like little baby lettuces. I thought that the stalk was cool and it would be fun to use it tonight. And it was fun... for the first 10 minutes. I turned that big stalk into this:

and 30 minutes later it made this much waste:

Which I threw in the back yard for the deer. I have a new appreciation for frozen brussels sprouts. Thank you whoever cleans and cuts them at a factory. I'm sure you don't get paid enough. 

Moving along, I eventually sauteed the sprouts with onion and lots of salt and they came out delicious.

The total cost of tonight's dinner was around $3.50 a serving. I had all of the ingredients in the pantry except the fish, sprouts and bread crumbs.  That price doesn't include the 10 servings the brussels sprouts made. We'll be eating those for a while.  Clean up took forever. I used about 3 pots, the strainer and the cutting board. I'm not sure how it happened, but there was corn starch and bread crumbs covering the stove and floor. 

Here's the final result:

Soux chef snuck a bite before I had a chance to take a picture. 

Notice the lemon sauce bowl...another pottery class creation. 

Soux chef needed lots of time to think about tonight's rating... I thought he was going to fall asleep. 

The final score was:

One thumb up! Can you tell soux chef is getting a little tired of this game? He's a good sport, we'll give him a little break for a while. 

No more posts until Friday. It's a busy week. Mom, Aunt Patti, and Susie are coming to visit.  Friday we are going to Arrington Vineyards to enjoy some local wine, live music and of course, some home-made tapas, which we will blog about. Have a lovely week!