Easy summer meal: barbecued tilapia with pesto sauce
Barbecued Tilapia with Pesto
This is one of my summer go-to meals. It’s so easy and delicious, a real crowd pleaser especially if the pesto is ‘real’.
This is what is considered ‘fake pesto’ to my kids- in other words not homemade. (Sorry kids, I’ve been sitting on the beach with y’all not cooking or sewing) . For the ‘real’ pesto recipe look here.
If you must go with store bought here are two good options that taste the closest to homemade- one from Walmart the other Costco. Have some extra olive oil handy too.
I built a little tray with two layers of aluminum foil so the tender fish can be cooked on the barbecue without falling through the cracks and burning up in the flames below.
Lay out the fish on the aluminum foil, curl up the foil so there isn’t much excess space on the foil. This are tilapia fillets but you can use any kind of fish- salmon or mahi mahi are other good options.
Spoon on the pesto spreading it over the fish with the back of the spoon, flip the fish over and repeat on the other side.
To keep the fish lubricated (can I use that word here?) drizzle olive oil around and between the fish, this will make it easier to flip the fish over halfway through cooking. (You can do this in the beginning too, when you are first placing the fish in the foil.)
I use a upside down cookie sheet to move the fish and foil trays from the kitchen to the barbecue, any surface that’s flat and without a lip would work.
Grabbing the curled up edge of the foil, quickly drag the fish onto the barbecue.
Cook about 4 minutes on each side, medium heat. Curl up the foil so all the olive oil stays around the fish, this will make it easier to flip the fish over with a spatula.
Wondering if I’m I feeding five thousand? Nearly… just enough fish to feed a crowded beach house full of family and friends, almost 5000.
When you’re finished cooking, toss the foil into the trash- no mess to worry about. Enjoy your fish with vegetables or the classic choice- pasta with more pesto sauce and topped with fresh parmesan cheese.
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