RAVE OF THE WEEK

By Rosemary Boggs (Contact)

LITTLE ROCK — Those with a taste for Next Food Network Star on the Food Network can have a taste of a competition-winning dish locally.

The challenge for contestants to create a unique seafood dish that would be served to a ship full of Coast Guardsmen ended in the winning dish - Macadamia Crusted Tilapia with White Chocolate Beurre Blanc ($11.99 for the lunch portion;

$18.50 for dinner portion) by contestant Kelsey Nixon- being put on Red Lobster’s menu.

To some, the idea of fish and chocolate may be a bit offputting, but the result is really quite delicate and flavorful. The White Chocolate Beurre Blanc sauce that tops the dish is a decadent and slightly sweet concoction with a hint of chocolate. The savory fish helps offset the sweetness of the sauce, and the macadamias round the dish out

with their crunchy texture.

A recipe for the dish is available at www.food network. com, but it varies a little from Red Lobster’s version, which is

made with a lightly seasoned piece of tilapia that’s cooked, then topped with chopped nuts instead of being encrusted with them.

Red Lobster, 8407 W. Markham St., Little Rock, (501) 224-0940; 3707 Mc-Cain Blvd., North Little Rock, (501) 753-4000, www.redlobster.com

Weekend, Pages 67 on 08/22/2008