Chipotle Seared Tilapia with Homemade Pico De Gallo

Happy World Diabetes Day! We’re so excited to share Carolyn Ketchum’s tilapia recipe with you today.

Carolyn is the author of the outstanding food blog, All Day I Dream About Food, where she focuses on recipes for low-carb meals and treats. Carolyn has always loved to bake, but after she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes while pregnant with her third child, she began to concentrate on low-carb recipes.

Her diagnosis came as a surprise since Carolyn was fit and healthy, and everyone expected that diabetes would go away after she gave birth. It did, seemingly, for a few months. But then, because she was still testing blood sugar every so often, Carolyn noticed a disturbing upwards trend on her meter. She started monitoring more closely and consulted with her doctor.

For the time being, Carolyn’s official diagnosis is pre-diabetes, but she suspects that this is only because she is so careful about what she eats and how much exercise she does. “If I was to go back to eating more carbs,” she says, “I am sure I would fall into the diabetic category. As far as I am concerned, it is diabetes, because I treat it the same way I would if I was a full-blown diabetic (i.e. testing, low carb and exercise).”

In addition to having one of the best food blogs out there, Carolyn is also a cookbook author. You can find her recipes in the new book. Low-Carbing Among Friends.

We’ve been lucky to have Carolyn on board as one of ASweetLife’s culinary contributors. And the recipe below, which she shared for Diabetes Awareness Month, is about as good as it gets. Take it away, Carolyn! – Jessica Apple

There is nothing quite like freshly made pico de gallo. It’s so flavorful and goes well with so many foods. It’s also incredibly simple to make, so there’s really no excuse for buying jarred salsa. I came up with this dish over the summer, when we had fresh tomatoes from the garden. It’s easy to throw together, and it quickly became a weeknight staple.

(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

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Chipotle Seared Tilapia with Homemade Pico De Gallo

Ingredients

Pico De Gallo:

2 cups tomatoes, chopped and seeded
1/4 cup onion, minced
1 medium jalapeno, chopped (I like to leave in some of the seeds for extra heat)
2 cloves garlic, minced
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Tilapia:

4 tilapia fillets (about 6 oz each)
2 tsp chipotle powder
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack or a combination

Instructions

For the pico de gallo, add all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Let sit for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld together.
Pat tilapia fillets dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle both sides with chipotle powder, salt and pepper.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Swirl melted butter to coat the bottom of the pan.
Add tilapia and cook about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side, or until fish is golden brown and flakes easily with a fork.
Remove tilapia from pan and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Top with several spoonfuls of pico de gallo and serve immediately.

Carolyn Ketchum

Carolyn Ketchum writes All Day I Dream About Food, a food blog that focuses primarily on low carb, gluten free recipes. She has a Masters in Physical Anthropology and Human Evolution from Arizona State University and has an extensive background in higher education administration. She currently lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children. You can check out her experiments with low carb baking at All Day I Dream About Food.

Carolyn Ketchum

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katye

12 years ago

This was so delicious! My boyfriend and I skipped the cheese and still LOVED this recipe. It’s so easy and healthy. We served it with quinoa and sauteed zucchini. YUM! Thanks for sharing.