The name of this post should be "Tilapia Baked in Cous Cous." But because this recipe was a complete and utter disaster (along the same lines as the steak with red wine reduction that turned into a pink hockey puck) and I am now starving, I am instead going to launch into a tirade against Rachel Ray.The real reason for my venom is that this was just out of nowhere. I mean, you can easily hate someone like Martha Stewart who is just so damn perfect. But Rachel Ray seems like a nice, all-American girl. Her recipes use her own quirky little terms like "EVOO," and she calls her thick soups "stoups." Her entire image seems so... attainable.
But she is devious, ladies and gentlemen. Every recipe I have ever used from her magazine or website have failed miserably. This tilapia is no different.So while I wait for the pizza to be delivered, I'll share the offending recipe with you. Why? Because maybe someone out there can tell me if this disaster was somehow my fault. More likely you can share similar stories of the evil Rachel Ray and her evil recipes.
Look at this picture. It looks tasty. Don't be deceived, I've included my own pictures below.
INGREDIENTS
1 10-oz box cous cous1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped (ok, ok, first admission. I didn't have dried tomatoes. I drained a can of whole peeled tomatoes and threw them in. Don't tell me this one little substitution ruined the entire dish.)
1 TBS ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste1/4 cup plus 2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS fresh lemon juice, plus 1 lemon, finely sliced4 8-oz tilapia fillets3 TBS chopped flat-leaf parsley
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine the couscous, almonds, sun-dried tomatoes and cumin and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the 1/4 cup olive oil and the lemon juice.
(Yes, there is fish hiding under all that cous cous)
Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange the tilapia fillets in a single layer in the dish, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cover the fish with the couscous mixture and arrange the lemon slices on top. Pour 2 1/2 cups water around the fish, cover with foil and bake until tender, about 25 minutes. Top with the parsley.
(Hey look! My fish is swimming!)
VERDICT
What the hell is this crap in my baking dish? The water never evaporated. The fish never cooked until I pulled it out and placed it on top of the cous cous. The cous cous was sticky and gooey, and nearly cemented our teeth together when we took our first bite. It was atrocious.
I hate you, Rachel Ray. You're one sick... oh hey, Domino's is here!
Yuck!
2 comments:
"attainable"
That's the beauty of reaching for mediocrity.
Hi. FWIW, the recipes from her magazine aren't hers (for the most part). She sometimes gives credit, but a good majority of them are sent in by her lemmings and published as her own.
HER own stuff hasn't been any good since her second book. The real old one (when she had the twice-her-age anchorman boyfriend in Albany who happened to know a publisher in New York) and the second book from about 2002 are actually halfway decent. After that, her stuff is capable of making you as large as her massive ego.
Post a Comment