Hard Cider Poached Tilapia

Since the baby lady has shown the occasional inclination towards seafood, I've been lookng for recipes that are not offensive to my fish wary palate that also are suitable for my one year old.  Being cooked in alcohol, this doesn't exactly fall into the category of baby friendlly, but I figured that since alcohol cooks off, I would give it a try.  The fish was a no-go for the littly lady, but B and I both ate a substantial amount of it, and we discovered that baby girl seems to like mushrooms.  Go figure.
 
Also, when you're making a meal that calls for part of a bottle of hard cider, you really have no other choice than to just drink the rest of it for dinner, right?  No choice at all....  





Ingredients:
3 T. butter
1/2 of a small onion, diced
8 oz. baby portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 small fennel bulb, roughly chopped
12 oz. tilapia
salt and pepper)
1 c. hard cider (I used Harpoon, but my favorite is Woodchuck)

How:
Preheat your oven to 500ºF.  Smear butter over the bottom of an oven proof skillet or a Dutch oven.  Season the fish with salt and pepper and lay in the middle of the Dutch oven and spread the onion, mushrooms and fennel around the sides of the pan.  Pour the cider over the fish, and bring to a boil on the stove, then transfer to the oven.

Bake about 8 minutes, or until the fish is done and flakes easily.  Serve.

adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks at Home
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