Steamed Tilapia with Spinach, Tomatoes and Capers

I grew up eating Tilapia.   This fish absorbs flavor very well.  My mom used to pick up some at the fish market when I was little.  They fry it there for her so that when she got home, dinner was ready.  We ate the fried tilapia with some fish sauce and tomatoes.  That to me was the taste of home.

Later, during my college years, I favored steamed tilapia over the fried version.  We would order it from the local chinese restaurant and it would be steamed with soy sauce and sesame oil and topped with shreds of green onion.  It tasted so good with rice or noodles.

However it was served, I was used to picking the tilapia from the tank and getting it cooked right away.  While I was shopping the other day, I found frozen tilapia.  I had my reservations because I was used to the fresh tilapia I grew up with but I went ahead and took it home with me.  Each one of them is individually wrapped and weighed 3 oz uncooked.

Medifast allows for 7 ozs of cooked tilapia so I cooked two of them at a time as you will notice in the picture above, it is quite a hefty serving.  

Medifast Lean and Green Recipe
1/4 tsp chili pepper flakes
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
7 oz tilapia filets
1 cup spinach
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp juice of lemon
1 tbsp capers

1. On a skillet, boil the water and add chili pepper.
2. Once boiling, scatter the grape tomatoes.
3. Put the tilapia on top the tomatoes.  Lower heat and cover for about 3 minutes.
4. Add spinach on top of the tilapia and cover to continue steaming for another 3 minutes.
5. Move all of it to a platter.
6. Turn off heat and put butter on the skillet
7. Add lemon
8. Add capers and mix
9. Put the butter, lemon and capers mix on top of the your meal.
10. Serve.

Wikipedia says this about Tilapia:

Tilapia have very low levels of mercury as they are fast-growing and short-lived with a primarily vegetarian diet, and thus do not accumulate mercury found in prey.


Tilapia is a low total fat, low saturated fat, low calorie, low carbohydrate and low sodium protein source. It is also an excellent source of phosphorus, niacin, selenium, vitamin B12 and potassium.

Many articles I've read on the web describe Tilapia as a very nutritious seafood.  However, please be aware of the following study as well:

ScienceDaily (July 10, 2008) — Farm-raised tilapia, one of the most highly consumed fish in America, has very low levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and, perhaps worse, very high levels of omega-6 fatty acids, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.