Baked Tilapia Iowa Cajun Style
photo by Kayla M.
- Ready In:
- 35mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Yields:
-
2 fillets per person
- Serves:
- 3
ingredients
directions
- Rinse and drain the fish; arrange skin side down and overlapping slightly in 9X12 or larger casserole if using more; heat oven to 400F; if using glass or nonstick, I don't bother to grease the pan.
- Melt the butter and margarine in small saucepan and pour over fish; the margarine dilutes the butter which causes burning easily but the butter imparts flavor.
- Rub the butter mixture over the top of the fish with your hands or spatula; with frozen filets (which must be fairly thin to cook right) the mixture will solidify; don't worry about it.
- The spices and herbs will not adhere well without moisture or the butter mixture but too much isn't good for you now so I try to drain it off when I serve.
- Most spices have plastic sprinkling inserts with holes so I don't measure but sprinkle to taste trying to get the right balance; watch the parsley as sometimes it's easy to get too much; same goes for other spices you're not familiar with amounts, better too little than too much if you're not used to cooking with them.
- Sprinkle on the seasoned salt, paprika, onion powder, pepper blend, fines herbes, thyme and parsley last.
- Put in oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- With a turkey baster or spoon, scoop up the butter and juices and drizzle back over the fish.
- Continue baking for 10 more minutes; it may be done or thicker pieces of fish take about another 5 or 10 minutes.
- You can tell it's done when you pierce with a fork or sharp knife; it will be tender and flaky with clear juices (not always apparent).
- Remove from oven and baste one more time, may have to tilt the dish so it will all pool at an end.
- Serve while hot with a spatula, draining off the excess melted butter mixture; it's not good for us; you can substitute an oil and less of it and it should be essentially the same.
- Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the fish at the table if desired (a must in the past for all fish but well everything is getting more expensive).
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Reviews
-
DH and I really enjoyed this! I really liked how the butter lightly crisps the edges of the fish (I don't keep margarine on hand, so I had to use all butter). Nice seasoning combination too. I had to omit the fines herbes because I didn't have any on hand, and I didn't have time to look up the components of it to make my own, but there were plenty of other seasonings in the mix to make up for it. I probably wouldn't do this all the time because it does have kind of a lot of butter in the recipe, but I have to admit that I couldn't bring myself to pour all the yummy seasoned butter off before serving. Instead, I spooned a bit of the butter sauce over the individual servings of fish. I served this with some seasoned cooked carrot sticks and Mexican rice. DH was very pleased with dinner last night, thanks for posting! Made for PAC Spring 2012
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I love photography, gardening, all sorts of things. Sometimes I really don't want to cook, but I like my own cooking better than most. I guess I like simple things best.</p>