I Have Seen The Future

Glad Torsdag!  (That's Happy Thursday to my Swedish friends)

I have seen the future and it is aquaponics.  

This is a symbiotic system for growing plants and raising fish using 10% of the water used in traditional farming.  It uses no soil - allowing urban farms to feed people where traditional farming is non-existent.  Aquaponics can be small-scale for home growers or large-scale commercial farms with practically no pollution.

 Check out 312 Aquaponics  If you are familiar with 312 Urban Wheat beer, you know that 312 is the area code in Chicago.  We here at Chicks Dig Central love Goose Island Products (see the Matlida blog post here for a kick-ass tuna recipe)!

A perusal of other website information on the subject will yield anything from classy blogs like Sylvia Berstein's excellent resource Aquaponic Gardening to goofy-ass bunker-living, gun-toting "Planners" who see this technology as their survival plan for Armageddon-end of the world-Mayan Doomsday scenarios.  (This one is pretty funny though...)

Now if you know for a FACT that your chick would dig you being THAT GUY, then by all means...

(picture from nationalgeographic.com)

 I personally will not be "Prepping" but this aquaponics should be on everyone's radar.  Particularly YOU - Guy who knows how to cook stuff.  You are going to be a superstar when all this delicious fish is being harvested.  (But Doug, how do I cook fish so it isn't dry and smelly?)

Glad you asked!  

Skillet Tilapia with Lemon-Cilantro Butter

4 Tablespoons softened butter

Juice of 1/2 lemon

fresh cilantro

2 thawed tilapia fillets

Combine first three ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Set aside.

Heat non-stick skillet with one tablespoon olive oil over medium heat.  Add tilapia fillets and season lightly with salt and pepper.  Leave them the hell alone.  When the edges are white and the middle has only a little "pink" left, turn off the heat and cover.  Leave them the hell alone for about 4 minutes so they finish cooking.  I even have a photo for you!  (I know, it's crazy how much I care...)

Carefully slide them onto a plate and top with the lemon butter for an instant, yummy sauce.

Got it?  Serve with a crisp salad (grown aquaponically or not) and a nice Goose Island beer.  Watch out for prepping nut jobs.

More fish recipes in the book Chicks Dig Guys That Cook and some pretty funny stuff too...  Thanks for playing along!