Bacon Wrapped Tilapia with Grilled Corn

By Perry Washburn

Sunday, snoozy, not looking for much effort. Pulled some Tilapia out of the freezer, thinking of frying it. I am heading toward minimum effort.

Carolyn walks through and says "let's grill." Yikes. Me with no mojo, and Tilapia is not the best grilling fish. But, hey, I am game, and it's nice outside. So here is what I had in my fridge....good and easy. And I remembered I had 8 ears of corn leftover (still in husks) from Friday.

8 ears of fresh corn
Butter
Salt
Foil

4 Tilapia fillets
5 spice powder
8 slices of bacon
2 Tbs of sour cream
2 Tbs Salsa Verde
2 Tbs green onion diced fine
2 Tbs fresh Cilantro

I peeled the husks back on the corn and pulled off the silks. I squirted each ear with a little butter and salt, replaced the husks, and wrapped each in foil. I put those on the grill, turning frequently, for 20-25 minutes, until I could smell the husks steaming.

While those were grilling, I  sprinkled 5 spice powde (a Chinese staple) on the filets. Then I wrapped each filet with two strips of bacon, barber-pole-stripe style, so the bacon was touching. I tucked the ends of the bacon back under the next wrap, so I ended up the entire fish covered. This solved my worries about the fish flaking when turning, because it was totally encased in bacon.

When the corn was done, I pulled them to let them cool a bit, and put the fish on the grill. They took 4-5 minutes a side on a fairly slow grill, turning when the bacon was getting crispy.

While the fish was grilling, I whipped up a topping with the sour cream, Salsa Verde, onion and cilantro, saving 4 pinches of cilantro back to sprikle on top.

We were eating outside, so I pulled the hot fish off the grill onto plates, topped with a dollop of sauce and a sprinkle of cilantro, aside a steaming ear of grilled corn still in the husk.

Fresh, fun, good and fast!