Baked Tilapia Topped with Sun-Dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Pesto

After a weekend filed with lots of swimming at my parents' pool I had a hankering for a nice, fresh meal. Nothing too taxing because, let's face it, being outside all afternoon in the pool with the kids totally whips me out! I knew that I had some tilapia in the freezer and some fresh basil in my garden so I started there. When I first bought my basil plant a few weeks ago it was a wee little thing but apparently if you stare at it long enough it will, in fact, grow faster!

With basil in hand (ok, my wee colander) I went rooting around my kitchen for ingredients to go with it. Enter in my beloved sun-dried tomatoes and goat's cheese!! Combine these three things with some fresh Parm and lemon juice and Brad and I had a great meal! Brad kept giving me 'yummy noises' and I literally got 2 thumbs up!! Yay! Brad was even thinking of different dishes that I could use this pesto in (stuffed chicken, as a spread for french loaf ....). Yes, he was that impressed with it!

Note: I wasn't going to push my luck thinking that my kids would embrace this dish. I'm not one to make a separate meal for the kids but I was too tired to play the 'just take a bite and try it' game so I quickly breaded the kids' tilapia and will save introducing them to this tangy pesto another day.

This is an easy and wonderfully tangy dish that is a perfect summer meal. I also love that it's easy to double if you have more people to feed. I hope you enjoy it!

Baked Tilapia Topped with Sun-Dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Pesto

From: The Baking Bookworm

Yield: 2 servings

1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves - washed & dried well
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp olive or grapeseed oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
2 oz goat cheese
2 large tilapia fillets

Preheat oven to 425F.

Place sun-dried tomatoes, basil and garlic into a food processor. Process until mixture is coarsely chopped. Add olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and Parmesan cheese. Process for 20 seconds. Add goat cheese and process until well combined. Set mixture aside.

Lightly grease a baking dish with oil. Place tilapia fillets on baking dish and bake for 6 minutes. Flip tilapia. Top each fillet with half of the pesto mixture. Return fish to the oven and bake for another 6 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.