Stuffed Tilapia Florentine in Mornay Sauce

Wow, doesn't that title sound all fancy? I was in the mood to make something a little more involved for dinner tonight, and my refrigerator contained a lot of fish thanks to a buy-one-get-one sale, so I went searching for a recipe that would dress up the fish into something upscale. This recipe (which combines beautifully with my Deconstructed Ratatouille for a loosely French meal theme) was the result. The fish is flaky and light, and the Mornay sauce really set off the spinach and cheese stuffing. You could do this recipe with most white fishes, I imagine: flounder would probably be great here too. This recipe takes a little more time and fuss than a lot of what I post here, but the taste and presentation is restaurant-worthy, and very worthwhile!



Stuffed Tilapia Florentine in Mornay Sauce

Stuffed Tilapia:
4 tilapia fillets
1 bag baby spinach (12 oz bag, and make sure it's baby spinach instead of the large kind)
1/4 red bell pepper, finely minced
1/4 sweet onion, finely minced
4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
2 oz feta cheese
1/4 cup veloute sauce (see below)
Olive oil

Mornay Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chicken stock, heated
1/2 cup milk (heavy cream is also acceptable)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
Salt
Pepper


Preheat the oven to 350F.

Start by making the stuffing mix, so that it has time to cool while you do other things. Heat a dash of olive oil in a nonstick pan, and add the onion and red bell pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes over medium high heat, then add the spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is completely wilted. Remove from heat and pour into a colander, to help start getting the water out of the spinach. Set aside for the moment and let the spinach cool a bit in the colander.

Next, start on your sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the flour a little at a time, stirring until it's smooth, to make a roux. Let the roux simmer over LOW heat (not high, or you'll overcook the roux and your sauce will end up strangely dark colored) for about 5 minutes to thicken and cook the flour. Add the heated chicken stock to the roux, still stirring to keep things smooth. At this point, your sauce is a bechamel. Add the milk to the bechamel, and let it cook for a few more minutes (more stirring!) until it thickens a bit. Your sauce is now a veloute sauce.

Reserve 1/4 cup of the veloute to use in your stuffing mix. Add the cheddar cheese to your sauce, stir until melted, add salt and pepper to taste, and you've got a Mornay sauce. Set it aside and let it cool.

By now the spinach should be cool enough to handle, so use the colander and folded paper towels to press as much water out of the spinach mixture as you can. Moist is okay, but wet is not. Transfer the spinach to a bowl and mix in the mozzarella and feta. Add the veloute sauce you reserved earlier, and mix the whole thing up until homogenous. This is your stuffing; it should be soft but not runny. If it's too dry, add a little more sauce.

Finally we can begin assembly! Divide the stuffing between your four fillets. Make a rough 'ball' of stuffing to place in the middle of each fillet, then roll the ends of the fillet up around the ball of stuffing like an envelope. Place your fillets, seam side down so that they don't open back up, in a baking dish. You want to use a dish that will hold all four fillets closely, without a lot of room left over for them to move around. Add about 2 tbsp water to the dish, then stick it in the oven and cook for 15 minutes at 350F.

At this point, remove the dish from the oven and carefully drain off as much water and juices from the dish as you can. Add the Mornay sauce until it comes about 3/4 the way up the fish rolls. Depending on the size of your baking dish, this may or may not require all the sauce. Return the dish to the oven to cook a further 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Serves: 4