This fish is delish!!

Some of you may recall my New Year's resolution to learn to cook a few decent meals. I'm pleased to report that said resolution is coming along splendidly. Dave and I have been making ourselves a nice dinner about once a week, and since it's really kind of a team effort, I'm not finding it to be such a repulsive chore. Dave likes to handle the meat; he says it makes him feel "manly" or something like that. This works out just fine for me because I'm grossed out by the feel of uncooked meat and because I like to chop vegetables, perhaps a little too much.

Anyway, a few days ago, we made this really yummy fish recipe that I found on the Food Network's web site, and I wanted to share it with you guys. It was astoundingly easy, though I wonder if that may have been more because we weren't competing with six other people for use of the kitchen. In any case, here it is...

Chili-Rubbed Tilapia with Asparagus and Lemon

Ingredients

* 2 pounds asparagus, tough ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 2 tablespoons chili powder
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
* 1 pound tilapia, Pacific sole or other firm white fish fillets (I think we used Atlantic cod instead.)
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice (I thought this was too much lemon juice, but that may have been because we only cooked a pound of asparagus and didn't adjust accordingly.)

Directions:

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Put asparagus in a steamer basket, place in the pan, cover and steam until tender-crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a large plate, spreading out to cool.

Combine chili powder, garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt on a plate. Dredge fillets in the spice mixture to coat. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fish and cook until just opaque in the center, gently turning halfway, 5 to 7 minutes total. Divide among 4 plates. Immediately add lemon juice, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and asparagus to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until the asparagus is coated and heated through, about 2 minutes. Serve the asparagus with the fish.