Filete De Culichi (Tilapia W Mushrooms in Poblano Cream Sauce)

Sooz Cooks's Note:

This is a my take on a special dish that our favorite Mexican restaurant in our town - 3 Margaritas - makes for my husband and me. It is not on the menu, but since we love fish they made this for us once and now we get it often, as do our friends. We expect this to be on the menu someday soon. It is tender Tilapia sautéed with garlic butter, topped with mushrooms and smothered in a special Poblano Cream sauce and it is YUMMY! You could replace the tilapia with anything - another kind of fish, chicken, whatever... and it would still be great! Serve with rice and beans on the side and fresh flour tortillas for dipping!

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Poblano Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 poblano peppers
• ½ small onion , diced
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Tilapia

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
• salt and pepper
• 4 (5 -6 ounce) tilapia fillets
• 1 lb fresh mushrooms , sliced

Topping

• ½ lb grated monterey jack cheese (about 2 cups)

Directions:

1. Preheat Broiler.
2. Poblano Sauce: Prepare Poblano chilies by roasting under broiler until they are fully blistered.
3. Remove chilies from broiler and turn off oven.
4. Put chilies in a brown paper bag to steam for 10 minutes. Allow to cool, then peel and remove seeds and stems. Cut peppers and put into medium sized bowl.
5. In a saucepan combine oil, Poblano peppers, onions, cilantro leaves, garlic and seasoning. sauté over high heat, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Stir in stock, bring to a boil, and boil vigorously, 18 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, stir in heavy cream, and simmer 2 minutes. Transfer sauce to blender or food processor and puree until smooth. For a smoother sauce, you can strain sauce as well.
6. Tilapia: Melt in a butter large heavy skillet. Add garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds. Season tilapia filets with salt and pepper and add to pan. Cook over moderately high heat until browned, 3 minutes per side.
7. Remove tilapia filets from the pan leaving the garlic butter and arrange tilapia in a baking dish just large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add mushrooms to skillet. Cover and sauté for about 15 minutes.
8. When mushrooms are close to done, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
9. Pour mushrooms over tilapia. Pour sauce over tilapia and mushrooms. Sprinkle cheese over the top.
10. Bake for about 10 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and tilapia is cooked through.
11. Serve with rice and refried beans on the side and flour tortillas for dipping.

Reviews

[WyomingMoonDust]

OMG Sooz you are my hero this week.. I have had a hankering for mushroom cream sauce and wanted a change so came on here... and I happened to have Talipa in the freezer.. I threw this together in less than an hour and the house smells soooooo good. I didn't have the peppers but I did have some sun dried chilis I soaked in tequilla and followed directions... this is a sure keeper.. Thank you so very much for posting this recipe!

[Gingin7]

OMG, this was so good! I love the shrimp with cilantro cream sauce at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and this was just as good...I didn't have any poblanos, so used a 27 oz. can of green chili peppers and added some butterflied shrimp to my tilapia. It was delicious! Thank you so much for posting the recipe!

[Chef #680857]

Recipe was a bit bland. I think I can keep the ingredients (maybe cut out the cheese) but change the way it is cooked as a whole and do better next time. Like saute the onions and garlic and use the oil for the fish and leave cilantro till the very end and just make a poblano and cream sauce. I will report back.