Mexican Baked Tilapia

What better way to kick start the new year with a fresh, healthy dinner full of bright and colorful ingredients and something that gives a huge burst of flavor?!

Luckily, this dinner is just that. 

I love tilapia but it can be soo boring sometimes.  It is oh so healthy for you but without some tasty ingredients to help add some flavor, it can be oh so... blah.

I made sure to include a variety of flavors within this dish, hence the tilapia needed some help.  With the addition of spicy chipotle peppers, sweet corn, zesty lime, and fresh cilantro, this tilapia is brought onto another level.  (I mean, it better be -- it's 2013, people!)

The tilapia is brushed with a spicy marinade, and then placed on top of a gorgeous bed of fresh vegetables.  Wrap it up like a present in tin foil and allow it to bake for a short (or what can be verrry long, if you're impatient like me ;) ) 20 minutes! And wa lah! You have an amazingly tender and flaky piece of fish that has soaked up all of the delicious juices of the marinade and vegetables and leaves a sweet, salty, spicy, mouthwatering scent in your nose, which will trigger your body into something I like to call "devour-mode"...

Just remember to breathe in between bites! ;)

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 tilapia fillets, patted dry

Kosher salt

Pepper

1 TBS butter, softened

1/4 tsp lime zest

1 lime, juice

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup corn kernels

1/2 16-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 small red onion, minced

2 green onions, chopped

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped

1/2 packed cup cilantro, chopped 

1 clove garlic, minced

1 lime, juice

1/4 tsp Kosher salt 

1/4 tsp Pepper

Aluminum foil 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Pat each tilapia fillet dry with a paper towel. 

Salt and pepper both sides of each tilapia fillet.

In a small bowl add butter, lime zest, lime juice, peppers in adobo sauce and garlic.  Mix together with a fork.

Over a sink, carefully drain the lime juice out of the bowl.  Rub the marinade on each tilapia fillet (only one side of each fillet, not both.)

In a bowl, combine corn, beans, onion, green onion, chipotle pepper, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper.  Mix together!

Lay out two long pieces of tin foil on your counter.  About a foot to 14-in long each.

Divide the corn and bean mixture evenly onto middle of each piece of aluminum foil.  Top the mixture with the fish-- marinade side up.

Carefully wrap the tinfoil and corn and bean.  I do this by folding in the shorter sides (left and right) first, then rolling the top and bottom in towards the fish to create a little package.  Place on cookie sheet.  

Bake for 15-20 minutes until fish flakes when poked at with fork!!  Chop some fresh cilantro and top fish.  Enjoy!!