A spicy red sauce coats tender chunks of tilapia and is tossed with bucatini for a quick and easy dinner that is fast enough for a weeknight meal and fancy enough for company!
28ouncescanned San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand
½cupchopped fresh basil, divided
10ouncesbucatini pasta, cooked al dente
Salt to taste
Instructions
Place the tilapia, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon minced garlic and ¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes in a medium bowl. Toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate while making the sauce.
In a large dutch oven, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add chopped shallot, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, and ¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on the amount of spice you want) and cook, stirring, until the shallot and garlic soften.
Add the wine and simmer for about 3 minutes (or until liquid is reduced by half)
½ cup dry white wine
Next, add the diced tomatoes, crushed San Marzano tomatoes, ¼ cup basil and ½ cup water. Stir until combined and bring mixture to a boil. Cook until sauce is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
½ cup water, 15 ounces canned diced tomatoes, 28 ounces canned San Marzano tomatoes,, ½ cup chopped fresh basil,
Add the tilapia to the dutch oven with the tomato sauce and simmer, stirring gently, until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt.
Salt to taste
Add the cooked pasta and ¼ cup basil to pan and toss to coat. Divide among bowls and top with more basil. Serve with additional crushed red pepper, if desired.
10 ounces bucatini pasta,, ½ cup chopped fresh basil,
Notes
Ingredients:
You can use fresh or frozen tilapia in this recipe. Choose fish that is firm, smells fresh, and springs back when pressed on. If you don't have any tilapia, use a firm white fish in its place. Cod, halibut, or mahi mahi are great choices.
Does your tilapia smell "fishy"? An easy fix for tilapia that smells fishy is to soak it in milk for 20 minutes and then rinse it before seasoning. The casein in milk will bind to the fishy smell and when rinsed takes the fishy smell and taste away.
Crushed red pepper is essential for this recipe. Start with ½ teaspoon and add more based on how spicy you like your food.
San Marzano tomatoes add great flavor to this dish and are worth the few extra dollars.
White wine adds depth to the flavor of the sauce. If you avoid alcohol or don't have any on hand, you can substitute chicken broth in its place.
Fresh basil is best but dried basil can be used in a pinch. It won't have the same punch of flavor but will still be delicious.
Bucatini pasta is my favorite noodle to use with this dish. Bucatini is a thick spaghetti noodle with a hole in it that holds the sauce really well. Don't have any on hand? You can easily use linguine or spaghetti noodles.