Sauteed Tilapia with Lemon-Peppercorn Sauce with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

This light, simple Tilapia recipe once again hit home without much fuss. The lemon-peppercorn sauce is easy to make - and cheap. No worrying about finding fancy and expensive (unique) ingredients for this one! But it is surprisingly full of flavor. It's delicate texture pairs well with the lingering tastes of lemon and peppercorn, satisfying your appetite while leaving you wanting more.

I paired the Tilapia with garlic mashed potatoes - a classic that cannot be refused - and the Grilled Tomato Arugula Salad that I blogged about a couple months back. Simple, healthy, natural ingredients for a delicious and filling meal. Who can ask for more?

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
You can never go wrong with garlic mashed potatoes. Seriously - who doesn't like them? They're warm and tasty, filling without being heavy, and they are full of garlic. Mmmmm.... garlic! Just make sure your date eats them too.

Here is a simple recipe from Cooking Light, although mashed potatoes are pretty basic foods and not one that depends too heavily on a recipe. You have room for experimentation here! The main change I made was leaving the skin on potatoes. Potato skin is full of nutrients - fiber, Vitamin C, potassium, iron. And it's also just delicious. Why peel it off? Just make sure you wash your potatoes well since they do live in the dirt before coming to your home.

You can follow the recipe and just leave the skins on without any other changes if you please. I used skim milk rather than 1%. The higher the milk fat the creamier your potatoes will be, but also fattier. I found the skim milk to work perfectly well for my tastes. I also just use my handy dandy potato masher rather than using a mixer. Think of it as building up arm strength! (Seriously - with a potato masher the process is incredibly easy.)

Sauteed Tilapia with Lemon-Peppercorn Sauce
And another easy recipe for your meal! Don't you just love these easy-to-prepare meals?

I did not have whole green peppercorns in brine. And I don't like salt that much when not on french fries or soft pretzels in Philadelphia. So I used my peppercorn shaker which does indeed have whole green peppercorns but I ground them out like I always do with my pepper. It might not have the little green dots that are so pretty, but it worked out brilliantly in terms of taste. I also skipped adding salt directly to the fish.

This comes together very quickly so just throw the fish on when your mashed potaotes are just about done. And the sauce cooks in a matter of minutes so stand by or it will dry up and leave your fish rather cold feeling. Enjoy!