If you’ve read my {About Me} section, you know that growing up I was a horribly picky eater. I tried fish once as a kid and hated the fishy taste of it and swore it off for years. I finally started to like salmon, only if my mom cooked it and took extra care to make it taste as little like fish as possible. In my journey to try new things, especially those that I previously disliked, I have embraced making fish to see whether or not I still don’t like it or whether it is simply about the type of fish itself or the manner in which it is cooked. I have found that I LOVE tilapia, it’s mild fish flavor is a winner in my book and it really takes on the flavors of the seasoning you cook it with. Despite wanting to get more creative with my ways of cooking and seasoning it, I am stuck on making a simple tilapia with garlic and butter! Thank goodness my husband likes it too because I just haven’t felt like changing it up since I found such a perfect combination of flavors for it. My husband has suggested I go outside the box a bit with tilapia at some point and experiment with fish tacos, and I have to say after watching an episode of Master Chef a few months ago, I actually want to get creative and try it out! We’ll save that for a later post.
Here’s the recipe I love, adapted from {About.Com – SouthernFood}:
Ingredients (Yields 2 Servings):
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 2 gloves of finely minced garlic
- Dash of pepper
- Dash of salt
- Dash of Italian Seasoning
- Dash of paprika
- 4 tilapia fillets
Equipment Needed:
- Shallow baking dish with rack
- Aluminum Foil
- Cooking brush
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- Line a shallow baking dish with aluminum foil and set aside.
- In a small saucepan over low heat, combine butter, garlic, pepper, salt, italian seasoning, and paprika and heat until butter has melted and is simmering.
- Remove mixture from the stove and use a cooking brush to coat the bottom of your baking dish with part of the mixture.
- Place tilapia fillets on top of the butter coated area and then brush the remaining portion of the mixture on top of the fillets.
- Bake at 350º for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tilapia flakes easily with a fork.
{A Hint of Ginger | Pairing Ideas}: For tonight’s dinner, I paired the Tilapia with sautéed veggies (peppers and zucchini) and rice pilaf. If you have any other ideas of good pairings with Tilapia, please leave a comment with your suggestions!
A Hint of Ginger 