One of my favorite restaurants in Central PA is Devon Seafood Grill in Hershey. It is one of the few restaurants in the area that has a “big city” feel – fresh ingredients, fantastic dishes, and a great, slightly trendy (but not too trendy) atmosphere. My hubby and I love it.
One of our favorite dishes on the menu is the macadamia crusted opah with an orange beurre blanc, asparagus, and fresh berries. So, imagine our surprise when we saw an almond crusted tilapia with amaretto beurre blanc, asparagus, and fresh berries on the menu at Houlihans next door (another decent restaurant in the area which also happens to be owned by Hershey, the owners of Devon). Coincidence? I think not. The almond crusted tilapia version is a much cheaper, budget-friendly version of the dish (and Devon actually serves another variation of the dish on their cheaper lunch menu).
While I haven’t actually ordered it, the tilapia version of the recipe got me thinking. While it is difficult to get fresh opah in Central PA, I usually have a few frozen tilapia filets in my freezer. So, one time when we were eating at one of the two restaurants (I forget which one), I commented that I thought I could make the almond crusted tilapia at home. After all, I like a good challenge. I immediately dismissed and forgot about the comment, but my husband did not. He’s been asking me to make the dish ever since.
So, last week I finally decided to tackle the dish. We don’t have any local berries in season here yet, and I couldn’t find any nice fresh berries at the store, so I left the berries out of the dish. I did my best to recreate the rest of the dish. Let me remind you that my culinary background is purely based on experience and lots of pouring over cookbooks… So, I apologize in advance if my beurre blanc is not up to culinary school standards. I did my best!
The dish was delicious, though, and tasted a lot like the dish I’ve had at Devon a few times. My hubby was happy with it, too… You can bet it will be making another appearance at my house again soon – once we have some fresh local berries!
Almond Crusted Tilapia with Orange Beurre Blanc and Fresh Asparagus
(2 servings)
For the Almond Crusted Tilapia
- 2 tilapia filets, cut in half lengthwise
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 cup chopped/ground almonds
(just pulse whole or sliced almonds in a food processor) - Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
For the Beurre Blanc
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1/2 cup white wine (whatever you like to drink)
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut into 8 pieces)
- Kosher salt
Other Ingredients
- Fresh, steamed asparagus
Set up the standard stations for crusting the tilapia. Place the flour in one bowl, almonds in another bowl, and whisk together the milk and egg in a third bowl. Season all three with salt. Pat the tilapia dry and dust each piece with flour, shaking off any excess. Transfer each piece of tilapia to the milk and egg mixture, and evenly coat, allowing any excess to drip off. Finally, coat the tilapia with the ground almonds, pressing to cover each side evenly. Transfer the tilapia to a plate or a baking sheet and let rest for a few minutes (if you’re pressed for time, you can probably skip this, but I usually find that it helps to do the breading ahead of time and give it some time to rest before cooking).
Meanwhile, to make the sauce, combine the shallot, wine, and orange juice in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquids have reduced and the mixture is syrupy. Reduce the heat to low, and add the pieces of butter one at a time, whisking vigorously over the heat and then off the heat for a few moments with each piece. You want to keep the temperature warm enough to emulsify the butter, but not so hot that the sauce comes apart. Once each piece of butter has been added to the sauce, season to taste with the salt. The sauce can be kept warm in a mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water or in a thermos.
After the tilapia has rested, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the crusted tilapia to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, turning very gently so that the fish doesn’t break. The almond crust will become golden brown and the fish should be tender and flaky on the inside.
Serve the tilapia over the steamed asparagus, topped with the orange beurre blanc sauce. Enjoy!
I am submitting this dish for Blogger Secret Ingredient: Asparagus, hosted by Natasha of Five Star Foodie!
Almond crusts are so delicious! The orange buerre blanc sounds so amazing I can taste it!
This recipe looks delish! Give me anything crusted with nuts and I’m all over it. I will be thrilled to make this asap. Thanks for posting!
This dish looks absolutely fabulous. You have done a great job with the crust and the sauce. You photo is beautiful.
This looks beyond fabulous! I actually did a little gasp when I saw the photo – just gorgeous. Can’t wait to surprise the hubby with this one!
What a mouthwatering dish! Costco sells some beautiful tilapia. I’ll be trying this soon!
I really want to come to dinner at your house!!!
I saw your gorgeous dish on 5 Star Foodie’s asparagus round-up and had to stop by and tell you how fabulous it looks. I’m bookmarking the recipe. I know the orange beurre blanc must make it outstanding.
Sam
I love your recipe and the pics are fabulous. I love talapia and any ways of changing it up is welcomed in my home. Thanks for sharing.
I see you had great success with your sauce! This looks delicious!
Wow – this looks AMAZING!!! :)
I think your buerre blanc looks perfect! (This is coming from someone who is too scared of cooking with that much butter at home, hehe.) I would love to try the version with amaretto and berries too, what great flavors.
I just love this recipe and can’t wait to try it… really hits all the flavor centers and great photo too!
YUM!! I have never even heard of beurre blanc, but I would love to try this. Thank you for sharing your version!
Oh my! I’m drooling, and I won’t stop myself from licking the screen on my MacBook. Nope, I will keep licking the screen.
I am not much of a seafood person, but I like Tilapia because it’s not a very overpowering fish (if that’s even the right term to describe its taste).
I also love the idea of serving it with an Orange Beurre Blanc. Great post! :)
I love the crust and my favorite spring veggie is asparagus! Mmmm!
It’s so cool that you were able to recreate this dish from memory (sort-of :P). It certainly looks restaurant-quality!
Fantastic!! you do know Tilapia is one of my fav fishes right? Right? hehehe… I’m saving this one for the next time I have some fillets in the fridge.
I love the almond crust on this delicious tilapia and the orange beurre blanc! Awesome with asparagus! I was excited that I was able to include this in the BSI roundup!
What a gorgeous asparagus recipe to celebrate spring’s arrival. Just want to let you know about an asparagus recipe contest that’s super simple to enter and offers gourmet prizes. Hope you’ll join us at Beet ‘n Squash YOU!
Love, Mel
This reminds me of a dish I used to make all of the time – it was a white fish with an almond cream sauce! WOW your version looks absolutely incredible! I LOVE the orange! So gorgeous, as always!
This sounds (and looks!) so fantastic Jen! Good for you recreating a restaurant dish at home – I always talk about doing that but rarely get around to it :)
This looks perfect. I love tilapia and I love the crunch on this!
I cant wait till frsh berries come into season.
Yumm, it looks just fantastic!
This looks to be one of those dishes I just love as it is easily adaptable to many variations… pecans, macadamias, walnuts, hazelnuts. Lemon, lime or grapefruit beurre blanc to change it up. The fish and veggies could be whatever is fresh at the market. Yum. Thanks for sharing!
Just the words “orange beurre blanc” have me salivating. I’m coming over next time you make this. :)
Isn’t aspargus the best thing with spring? I do think so. Hopefully I’ll find some good one’s in my new hometown Paris! I just uploaded a new episode of my online cooking show, I’m making Swedish Cupcakes. Check it out if you’re curious!
This looks divine! I’ve been trying to make more fish at home and I think this is a great dish to try.
This looks so decadent, Jen! Isn’t it amazing when you enjoy a meal at your favorite restaurant and then figure out you can recreate it at home any time you want?
Thanks so much for sharing! I’m going to have to try this one for my boyfriend and me the next time I promise him a home-cooked meal :)
Thank you for sharing your recipe. I love tilapia recipe’s so I will definitely create this one at home. Beurre Blanc is one of my favorite, I love it more on fish. I usually make one whenever I make fish fillets for dinner.
See now I am not even a fish lover (getting there) but this has me wanting to try it out. You had me at “orange beurre blanc”!
I just ate lunch at Devon’s Restaurant and had the tilapia with the beurre sauce. Delicious! I’m so glad I found your recipe. Not a low calorie dish with all that butter :( but hard to resist!
Just wanted to mention: check the source of the frozen tilapia. Some are from China and you don’t want to eat fish farm-raised in China. YUK!