The Cost of Cooking Tilapia, Spinach, and Couscous With Balsamic Vinaigrette

When I went to college (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 2000–2004) the nicest restaurant in town was Kona Bistro. I ate there something like three times over four years, and never on my own dime (thanks for taking me to lunch, parents!) because this was a fifteen-dollar-a plate restaurant.

But I remember them making this dish that was something like “layer of mashed potatoes, layer of greens, layer of grilled salmon, layer of chutney.” It was all of these foods I already loved, made better by arranging them on top of each other. Who wants to eat grilled salmon next to a salad and a scoop of mashed potatoes, when you can eat them together like some kind of open-faced sandwich where the plate represents a slice of bread?

Anyway, every once in a while I remember that I can still do that.

This meal is incredibly easy to put together:

• Lightly cover tilapia filet with olive oil and salt/pepper, then bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for roughly 20 minutes.
• Boil water in your electric kettle because it boils faster than it would in a saucepan, then pour boiling water over dry couscous. Cover couscous and let sit for five minutes.
• Layer cooked couscous, spinach leaves, cooked tilapia, and a light sprinkle of balsamic vinaigrette. Strawberry garnish is optional, but if you’re going to do it, you had better do the thing where you slice the ends open into a fan, because that only takes 20 seconds and makes the whole thing look fancy.

Here’s how much it cost:

Safeway Kitchens Boneless and Skinless Tilapia Filet: $0.63 (from a $5.00, eight-filet package)

Near East couscous, Original Plain: $0.50 (I’m still portioning out servings of couscous from the four 8-oz boxes I got on sale at $2.00 a box)

Fresh Express Baby Spinach: $0.25 (a small handful from a $4.00, 10 oz tub)

Open Nature Balsamic Vinaigrette: $0.08 (roughly one tablespoon from a $1.79, 12 fl oz bottle)

Sweet Darling Strawberries: $0.11 (one berry from a $3.88, 32 oz tub—and yes, I counted the strawberries in the tub to make sure I got the correct price per berry)

Olive oil, salt, pepper: $0.20 (I’m just guessing here, since I bought all of these months ago and didn’t write down what I paid for them)

Total cost: $1.77

Wait, seriously? This fancy-pants dinner where I arranged all the food and fan-sliced a strawberry cost less than $2? I should make this more often. (It’s a good thing I have seven more frozen tilapia filets.)

How do you all cook fish? Do you ever layer your fish filets like this?

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