Dominican Republic- Banana leaf baked Tilapia with Spicy stuffing

Baked Tilapia (or Snapper or Halibut) : serves 4

I doubled the recipe for the stuffing to serve 8. Take that into consideration, but be sure to have atleast 8 tilapia fillets (1 per person), thawed (if previously frozen), with lime juice squeezed over them (juice of 1 lime or about 1 T)

Stuffing:

• 5 T butter
• 2 strips bacon, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 4 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 green pepper, seeded, finely chopped
• 1 Scotch bonnet (or ANY hot pepper-- I used a mix of hot banana, jalapeno, and habanero) pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 tomato, cubed
• ½ t dried thyme
• ½ t dried marjoram
• 1 t salt
• 1 t freshly ground black pepper
• ½ C bread crumbs
• ¼ C pineapple juice with 1 teaspoon rum extract in it
• 1 large banana leaf (add to appearance and flavor-- can be purchased REALLY cheaply at your local Latin Mercado) or aluminum foil

Garnish:

• Tomato slices,
• Orange slices
• Sprigs of parsley

1. Rinse fish and pat dry inside and out. Squeeze lime juice all over and cover. Refrigerate til ready for use.

2. Saute bacon in ¼ C butter about 4 minutes. Add ingredients through hot peppers, sauté til tender, stirring occasionally.

3. Add tomato, herbs, wine, bread crumbs and stir to combine thoroughly. Simmer, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute. Add pineapple juice/rum extract, stir, simmer another few minutes. Remove stuffing from stove and let cool.

4. preheat oven to 375 F

5. Place fish on top of banana leaf or foil. Stuff with filling and dot top with remaingin T of butter (alternatively, can just spray with butter flavored cooking spray). Fold over leaf or foil to seal the fish and bake 1 hour.

6. Transfer to serving platter along with leaf (discard foil) and garnish platter with whole sprigs surrounding fish and slices on top.