Out of the frying pan and into the... bagna cauda?

So for my first recipe review, I thought I would do one for the dish I made this week that prompted me to start this blog: tilapia with citrus bagna cauda (you can find the full recipe in Giada de Laurentiis' cookbook Giada's Family Dinners).

For the prep:

• I spent: $8
  
• Ingredients: 3.5/5

The most expensive item for this recipe was definitely the fish (I paid $4.50 for that fillet, which weighed in at around 250g). Not only was almost everything easy to find in my supermarket, I had many of the other items on hand (a big plus because I was forced to do my grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon last weekend...avoid this at all costs!)
The only ingredient I didn't bother looking for that I didn't have in my pantry was anchovies. Anchovies don't strike me as the kind of item you'd use in everyday cooking (do people keep anchovies in their pantries?) so this recipe lost ingredient points for that reason. It also lost points because it wasn't enough of a meal on its own to constitute a dinner. It suggested potatoes as a good pairing for the sauce as well, so I decided to add on boiled potatoes with steamed green beans to round out this meal on my own.

Cooking

• Easiness: 3.5/5

Since I cut out the anchovies, my ingredients in the bagna cauda (sauce) were:

1. 3 tbsp butter
2. 2 tbsp olive oil
3. 3 cloves garlic, minced (she wrote 1.5 tsp... but really, no one is going to measure garlic that way unless they're using it from a jar)
4. 2 tbsp orange juice
5. 1 tbsp fresh basil
   
6. 1 tsp lemon zest
7. 1 tsp orange zest

Essentially you want to combine the first two ingredients together, stirring until the butter is melted. Add the garlic, and after 30 seconds take the mixture off the heat. Add the rest of the ingredients. (I didn't have fresh basil, but I did use the equivalent amount from a squeeze tube bottle of "fresh garden basil"; the taste isn't as sharp as the real thing, but it's not a bad substitute if you can't afford to buy fresh basil when it goes bad so quickly).
They say you learn something new about yourself everyday; the day I made this sauce I learned that I suck at zesting citrus fruits. Either I need to invest in a citrus zester or learn to use my grater more efficiently. My zests came out as small amounts of orange and yellow mush stuck to my grater.
One thing I really liked about this sauce is she says you can make it up to a day in advance and keep it in the fridge; reheat to serve. But then, I really had to wonder: why only cook the garlic for 30 seconds then? When you reheat, you're going to cook the garlic for even longer.
For the veggies, I boiled some yellow fleshed potatoes cut into bite size pieces in hot water for about 8-10 minutes. I drained most of the water out and left about an inch of water left in the pot before I added the green beans. I'd found half a red pepper in my fridge, so I threw that in too. I left it on high heat for an extra 3-4 minutes, until the beans were bright green, before draining everything off and setting it aside.
The fish is straight forward. Season on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat some olive oil in a pan, cook on both sides on medium-high heat for about 3 minutes a side, depending on the thickness of your fish.
I served this with the fish on the bottom of the plate, then the vegetables arranged around it. I spooned a generous amount of sauce over everything to finish it off.

The Result
I was actually pleasantly surprised by how this turned out. I'm wary of panfrying fish because I think it dries it out, but the fish turned out crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside. The sauce worked really well with the fish and vegetables I had. I wouldn't use the sauce on any fish that has a really strong taste to it since I think it could be really easily overwhelmed. The sauce is really the star of the show, it plays up the flavors of what could otherwise be some mundane ingredients.
I would probably increase the amount of basil I used in the sauce, and would consider throwing in more garlic and citrus zest. I might also add a tsp of lemon juice to bring up the citrus flavors in the recipe.

• Guilt-factor: Low. The sauce is a little guilt inducing with all its oil and butter, but you're not supposed to be using the entire pot on yourself. I had a lot of sauce left over (the recipe was for 6 servings, but if you're using it on the vegetables on the same meal, I would say it's closer to 3 servings).
  
• Servings: 1. I avoid having fish as leftovers. I mentioned I had a lot of sauce left; if you've got a boring veggie side coming up soon in your meal rotation, you can use it for that... but a sauce won't give you a meal.
• Leftover rating: n/a
  
• Taste: 4.5/5
  

Overall: 80%

• The good: It's healthy as long as you use the sauce in moderation. The sauce is versatile and can be made in advance. It tastes really great. Recipe is easy to follow, and ingredients are easy to find at home and in the supermarket. Any remaining ingredients were easy to find other uses/recipes for.
  
• The bad: Kind of pricey, and there are no leftovers.