Guest Contributor: Roast Mushrooms and Tilapia

I absolutely love the Green Market in Chicago. It’s Chicago’s organic farmer’s market. It can be a bit of a caricature–a friend once joked that if you wanted to eliminate the portion of Chicago that listens to NPR, drives hybrid cars and may be wearing clothing made of out of hemp, you could simply destroy the Green Market and that would be that. It’s partially true. But it’s also a place where people who are really passionate about food and food issues interact and a great way to try to eat more locally and seasonally. Many of my Saturday mornings start there. A few weeks ago I had an excess of mushrooms from a Green Market trip and was trying to figure out what to do with them. I wondered how roasting them would be and thought that they might be very good with fish. So I sort of made this up as I went along and loved it. I think it’s very adaptable, and it’s pretty quick in terms of prep work and actually cooking. {Image from MyRecipes}

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While that’s happening, assemble the remaining ingredients:

• One ten ounce package fresh mushrooms (or more), quartered (or however you think you’re going to like them). I used Cremini, which are also called Baby Portabella, but you can use whatever kind you like.
• One large shallot, chopped into one quarter inch pieces (or, again, however you think you’d like it, shallots are nice and mild, so I used a bigger chop)
• One garlic clove, minced (I actually used two, but I tend to like a lot of garlic). The easiest trick I have learned about garlic is to smash it with the side of a big chef’s nice first, which allows you to peel the skin right off, and then chop it. Basically, you end up with some combination of mushrooms and shallot and garlic – (any onion would work, but you might want to chop up a regular yellow, red or white onion a little finer than a shallot). I’m a big believer in adapting recipes to whatever you may have left over, which leads me to my next ingredient:
• Two slices of pancetta, chopped (I usually keep some pancetta in my freezer – you can always use a bit for flavor in soups and I also really like the smoky flavor with most fish. I think this was left over from some pancetta wrapped scallops I made). Any left over ingredients you have from recipes can usually be used in something else, so stick them in the freezer.
• Two-Three pieces of tilapia. If you can, try to make sure it’s from the U.S., Central America or South America - according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium: “Avoid farmed tilapia from China and Taiwan, where pollution and weak management are common.”

Combine the mushrooms, pancetta, shallots and garlic in an oven safe baking dish. Drizzle a tablespoon and a half of olive oil on the mix, and put in the oven. Stir about ever ten minutes or so and make sure the mushrooms look like they are roasting (you’ll see they are “releasing their juices” as every recipe always says). If it looks like any are burning or sticking, add a little more oil.

After twenty five minutes, remove and add salt to taste. If you’d like, you can also add a splash of white dry white wine and/or a tablespoon or so of unsalted butter – I didn’t the first time I made this, but did the second. It adds a different type of flavor, but I think it is really good both ways. Then add the tilapia –push the mushrooms over, add the fish to the dish, and then top with the mushrooms. Return to the oven and roast for about ten more minutes (until the fish flakes and is white all the way through).

I steamed some spinach and served the fish over the spinach with a side of rice, but you could also serve this with mashed potatoes – just something to catch some of the sauce.