Cornmeal fried tilapia and marinated bean salad

Everything in this dish of substance came from the freezer! It was a great meal to pull together rather quickly. I actually prepared this on a night we had a show at DPAC that started at 7:30pm. I worked on prepping and fixing the marinated bean salad before moving on to the fish. The tilapia filets fried up quickly and the two recipes made for a complete dish.

Marinated bean salad by Martha Stewart

   Serves 10; we halved

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh green beans, ends snapped

Salt and pepper

1 pound butter beans, or small fresh or frozen lima beans

1/4 cup tarragon or white-wine vinegar we used white wine vinegar

3 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 shallot, minced

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon, plus more for garnish we omitted and substituted an herb spice blend

2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish see above

Directions

   Prepare an ice-water bath. Cook green beans in boiling salted water, just until bright green and tender, about 5 minutes. Reserving the cooking liquid, remove beans with a large slotted spoon; transfer to ice-water bath to stop the cooking. Transfer beans to a colander. Cook butter beans in the boiling cooking liquid, just until tender, 5 minutes if frozen. Strain; place under cold, running water to stop cooking. Set aside. We used frozen green beans and butter beans so cooked them both at the same time.

   Make vinaigrette: In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper to taste, and minced shallot. Whisk in olive oil until vinaigrette is creamy. Whisk in tarragon and parsley.

In a large bowl, toss green beans until well coated with about three-quarters of the vinaigrette. In a large bowl or on a platter, arrange the green beans in an even layer. Sprinkle the reserved butter beans over the top. Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the beans. Garnish with tarragon and parsley. Serve at room temperature.

For the tilapia
   We set up a breading station to fry two tilapia filets. The first bowl was flour with a bit of salt and pepper, then a egg beaten with a tablespoon or two of water, and finally cornmeal. The fish was fried in a pan with hot oil for 3-4 minutes on each side.