Dabbling in the Kitchen: Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

This morning I put down some Tilapia fillets to defrost. Sounded like a great idea for dinner this morning. Problem was - I had NO idea what to do with the fillets. I could just broil them or bake them - but that seemed boring. So, before coming home to cook - I hit the web. Real Simple (where I usually find TONS of great ideas) came up dry so I swung by Google. One of the first recipes to pop up came from allrecipes.com - and it sounded perfect: Baked Tilapia Parmesan.

I decided for sides I'd make a few quick baked potatoes and some small side salads. Pretty basic fare, but still delish!

Okay - here's the recipe. I had allrecipes.com break down the recipe to be the right amount of ingredients for 2 servings (as opposed to the 8 servings the original recipe amounts would render):

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (I added a pinch or two more of my Parm/Romano shredded cheese mix)
1 tablespoon butter, softened
2 1/4 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon celery salt (I left this out - didn't have any because I hate celery salt)
1/2 pound tilapia fillets

1 - Preheat your oven's broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminium foil
2 - In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.
3 - Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful to not overcook the fish.

So - I pulled out my broiler pan and followed directions. All in all - very easy recipe. I could've left my fillets in for another minute with the Parmesan topping on it - things were nice and melty but not quite brown on top when I pulled the fillets out.

Since my fillets were a little on the small side - I had some extra topping left. I considered using it for salad dressing - but it was a little heavy. Instead I topped the baked potatoes with it. Since I'd chosen some smaller red potatoes, there was just enough topping. I think I really liked it better on the potatoes than I would've liked it on the salad.

For the salad, I tried to be basic since I had some pretty cheesy contenders on the plate. I took an Italian lettuces mix (bagged mix), added a few slices of white mushrooms and a handful of snap peas. Topped it all of with a drizzle of olive oil and a few twists of the pepper grinder - and voila! Dinner!

As for a review of the meal - it was quite good! The fish stayed fairly moist, the cheese melted nicely on the fish and the balance of the topping did not overpower the flavor of the fish and vice versa. While it's not shooting straight to the top of my "I LOVE THIS AND MUST EAT IT EVERY DAY" list (yes, I have one - I LOVE food), it's definitely a recipe I'll keep and work into my rotation of "that's pretty good" food items.

I asked Chris - and got the standard response of "uhm. It's pretty good." (Which I've come to learn means he'll eat it again - but he's not going to ask for it every week.)

Let me know what you think of the recipe - if you try it. Let me know if you've got suggestions for future recipes. Hopefully I'll be food blogging more often - sometimes with recipes I've stolen from the web or family and sometimes with things I make up as I go.

Happy eating!