grillsidestories

So yeah, I grill when its below freezing, and when its a blizzard outside.  I guess when its the first day of approaching 70 degrees and you come back from the playground area with the little one after work, it just seemed only natural to grill in the warmth.  The only thing missing would be the annoying bugs and heat.  Sounds like a chance to surprise the wifey and listen to baby girl tell all about Barbie’s latest adventures while she’s sitting on the back porch and the grill just a grilling.

(Note: This is just my way of grilling this, you can use different seasonings, I’ll footnote any variations of the recipe that I’ve tried below)
(Note of the note: The fish can also be baked at 375 in the oven if you don’t have a grill, might be short on the broccoli though.)

6 Tilapia filets
Broccoli florets, fresh or thawed if frozen
Italian dressing
1/3 to 1/2 bag of tortilla chips (multigrain or multicolored are awesome for this)
shredded parmesan cheese
black pepper
Janes Krazy salt (if you don’t have this, you can use season salt)
paprika (not a necessity)
garlic powder
minced onion
*variation : if you like lime, the lime tortilla chips and lime and pepper seasoning is awesome. Not to be confused with lemon and pepper seasoning. I’ve personally only seen the Tone’s lime and pepper seasoning at Sam’s Club.
olive oil
lemon juice (optional, I didn’t use it this time around)
rice (prepared however you like it)
2 cedar grilling planks (soaked at least 30 mins in water. Try other liquids as well.  Apple juice works well with salmon)

Wash your broccoli.

Put in ziplock back with about half a cup of Italian dressing. Use more if you use more broccoli.

Add Parmesan cheese to your liking, shake bag to thoroughly coat, and place in fridge. (you can also use olive oil and lemon juice instead of Italian dressing)

In a medium sized bowl, mix the seasonings until you get about 3/4th cup worth

Add tortilla chips

Crush the tortilla chips and mix with seasonings.  Use them hands, and get them dirty!

Wash your tilapia fillets.

Lightly rub one side of the cedar planks with olive oil.

Line up fish on plank.

Lightly coat fish with olive oil (and lemon juice if you normally use lemon juice with fish) and carefully shake tortilla mixture over top of fish. Its perfectly alright if the chips are on the cedar plank.

Prepare your grill for indirect grilling.  A drip pan is not needed.

Line up planks the best you can away from directly over the coals, its OK if you can’t avoid having the planks 100% away from the coals. Cover grill.

After about 5-7 minutes, add the broccoli to the grates, sprinkle Jane’s Krazy salt over them, and cover again.

After about 2-3 minutes, turn broccoli, you should have nice grill marks within 2-3 minutes, depending on how close the coals are to your grates. Cover grill.  Remove broccoli after another 2-3 minutes.

When the tilapia starts bubbling around the edges, (around the 10-12 minute mark), and starts to look opaquely white throughout, take a fork press down in the biggest portion of one of the filets.  If it breaks apart without any effort, you’re good to go.  Because of the olive oil layer on the plank, the fish should slide right off when serving.

Serve with rice and enjoy.