During the warmer months many of us lean towards lighter meals like salads rather than the heavier, comfort foods such as stews. However, if you’re like me, the craving for flavor and carbs is a year ’round ordeal! Seasoned tilapia with beans offers a light protein to enjoy with the crazy craved carbohydrate, potatoes.

For this meal, I always get a pot of boiling water roaring for the diced potatoes. Peeled or not it’s up to you.

While those cook, season the tilapia with cajun and shallots and stick them in the oven at 350. Remember to spray or oil your pan. Aim baking time to about 10 minutes.

Once the potatoes are soft, drain, and put back into the pot with a reasonable amount of butter. I like to be generous with butter.  Stir and melt her up. Instead of milk to make the potatoes creamy, I tend to use sour cream. It’s my favorite food group! Then we’ll add minced garlic (3 cloves or 3 tablespoons), garlic powder, garlic salt, onion powder, and pepper. Keep adding to taste.

Nothing fancy and super quick, grab a can of black beans, drain and heat those bad boys up. You may or may not add salt, but because of how much I season the mashed potatoes the beans remain plain.

For plating, I’ll put a mound of potatoes in the center of a plate and create a crater in the middle for the beans to rest in. A filet of tilapia will then sit on top of the garlicky goodness.

In the photo, I topped the tilapia with pico de gallo. This is optional, but I do have a quick and easy pico de gallo recipe here if you’d like to give it a try. There’s a cajun lime sauce and guacamole recipe included too. I’d imagine they would be worth a try these summer months as well.

If you happen to try this dish this summer, let me know how it turned out for you! Anything you would do differently?

What are your summer favorites?

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