Tilapia florentine
Tender tilapia baked on a bed of creamy garlic spinach with a golden parmesan top, rich enough to feel special and easy enough for a weeknight.
- 35 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $4.33 a serving
- 330 calories
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 oz baby spinach
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup milk
- 4 tilapia fillets, thawed if frozen
- 1 lemon, half juiced, half cut into wedges
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper, divided
- ¼ tsp paprika
Each serving has about 330 calories, 35 g protein, 8 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $4.33 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No tilapia fillets? Cod fillets work.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 400°F.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Heat the oil in a large over medium heat and the garlic for 30 seconds, .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Add the spinach a few handfuls at a time and until it , about 3 minutes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Dolly’s tip: It looks like far too much spinach. It cooks down to a fraction.Turn the heat to low and in the cream cheese, milk, ½ teaspoon of the salt and half the pepper until creamy. Spread it in a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Low heat
the tilapia dry, lay it on the spinach and with the rest of the salt and pepper and the lemon juice.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Sprinkle the parmesan and paprika over the fish.
for 12 to 15 minutes, until the fish flakes easily and the spinach bubbles at the edges.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Timer: 13 min
Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
Serve with the lemon wedges.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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