Tilapia with blood oranges

Wednesday 28 Feb
We continued the fish fest with a lovely simple dish, originally for trout fillets, but which works nicely with any thin fish.
Dry the fillets and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh thyme leaves (we had lemon thyme and lime thyme from the garden, which miraculously survived the zero temperatures and the ice storm). Pat to make adhere. Fry the fillets in butter and a touch of oil (to bring up the smoking point) on medium heat, till brown on each side and opaque in the middle. Remove to heated plates
Add another slice of butter. Sauté a minced shallot, add two blood oranges in sections (cut out any seeds), any thyme that didn't stick to the fish, plus a half a lemon's worth of juice, and a shot of lemon vodka (taste first to make sure it hasn't gone off--be terrible if the alcohol had gone bad). Reduce the sauce to almost a syrup. Then, off heat, Monty O'Burr (montez au beurre), that is, throw in a bit more cold butter and stir until just incorporated in the sauce. Pour over fishes.