Orange Cashew Rice with Baked Tilapia

Still babying my tender tooth, I rifled through my stack of printed recipes looking for another fish recipe.  Not only did this wonderfully easy recipe taste great, it came with a fanastic side dish, to boot.

A citrus-based rice and fish dish are great accompaniments to each other.  The rice: orange.  The fish: lime.  I was surprised just how delicious this very simple fish recipe came out.  And the rice is a great mixture of tastes, textures, and color.  I was going to steam some asparagus as a side dish, but these two make a complete meal all by themselves.

ORANGE CASHEW RICE with BAKED TILAPIA (Serves 4)

For the rice:
1 cup water
1 cup orange juice
1-2 tsp freshly grated orange zest, to taste
1 Tbsp EVOO
Salt to taste
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup roasted cashew pieces
1/4 cup chopped yellow peppers
1/4 cup chopped red peppers
3 green onions, minced
1 (8 oz) can mandarin orange segments, drained well

For the fish:
4 (6 oz) tilapia fillets (I used Swai)
S&P
1 lime, finely grated zest and juice
2 Tbsp butter, cut into 4 pieces

For the rice, in a 2-quart saucepan, bring the water, orange juice, orange zest, EVOO, and salt to a boil.  Stir in the rice.  Cover the saucepan and lower the heat to a gentle simmer, simmering the rice for 25-30 minutes, until the rice is cooked through and the liquid has totally evaporated.  Let stand, covered, off the heat for 5-10 minutes.  Scrape the rice into a large bowl. Add the cashew pieces, peppers, and green onions.  Season with S&P and add the drained orange segments to the rice, folding them in gently to prevent the oranges from breaking.

For the fish, while the rice simmers, preheat the oven to 375F degrees and coat a 9-10" cast iron pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Rinse the fish and pat dry.  Place the fish in the pan in a single layer.  Season each fillet on both sides with S&P.  Sprinkle lime zest over the fish and drizzle with lime jice.  Place a pat of butter on each fillet.  Bake in the oven for 8-12 minutes until cooked through.  Serve rice and fish immediately, spooning pan juices over fish, if desired.