Tilapia With Garlic-Tomato-Basil Butter

I'll be honest.

I don't cook.

And it's kind of a problem.

I'm almost 100% positive Doug cooks more than I do. If I count the number of times I have made all of dinner in comparison to times where he has made it all, I know that he wins. But I do make the lunches, so does that count? Either way, cooking wise, I'm sure he's done it more often than me.

Not that I'm complaining; heavens no.

Though, I must say I feel bad. Sometimes, it makes me feel like an awful wife. Other times I admit to being quite grateful for it. But last night he really needed to do his homework (curse you physics) and so I decided I was going to make one of my favorite mother in-law meals. It's super tasty, so I decided to pass it on to all of you. Normally, fish isn't something we buy, though we would love to. It's just so expensive, even when you find a deal. But when a 10 lbs box is only $1.88 a pound which is basically a dollar less than normal sale prices, we just have to. And we did. And it was so very worth it.

Tilapia With Garlic-Tomato-Basil Butter


What you'll need:

For Garlic-Tomato-Basil Butter

1 cup chopped tomatoes (I do a bit more, closer to 1½ cups)]

2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic (I press 2-4 cloves)

¼ cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind (I just do rind of one lemon, which is more than 2 teaspoons)

¼ teaspoon pepper

3 Tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped (or 1Tablespoon dried basil if getting fresh is just too expensive. This is what I did last night, and it worked just fine.)

For Tilapia

1 pound tilapia fillets (give or take)

½ c light mayonnaise (I use whatever I have on hand, reg or light. And you may not even need this much)

½ c breadcrumbs

¼ c grated Parmesan cheese (the kind from the can is perfectly fine. Don't feel pressured to buy fresh Parmesan)

1 Tablespoon dried basil

½ tsp pepper

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

To prepare the garlic-tomato-basil butter, coat a small/medium skillet with cooking spray (or veg. oil, which is what I do), then sauté tomatoes and garlic over medium heat for 5-10 mins, stirring occasionally, to form a puree.  Cool tomato mixture completely. In a bowl, mix together softened butter, the cool tomato mixture and the rest of the ingredients. Set aside while fish is baking.  (I usually sauté and then do fish and go back to finish butter while fish cooks)

To prepare fish, set a rack on a foil-lined baking sheet (for easy clean-up.) Spray the rack generously with cooking spray. Or simply don't use a rack at all and place it on a glass baking sheet directly, works great.

 Combine parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, basil and pepper in a shallow bowl or pie tin and mix well. Set aside.

Using a pastry brush (or fingers if that's all you've got... I may or may not have had a minor freak out last night that we somehow still didn't have all the needed kitchen supplies... But I worked through it. Sorry, rant, please continue), coat each piece of tilapia with mayo on both sides. (I usually do one side and then brush the other side once it is setting on the crumb mixture). Transfer the tilapia to bowl and bread each piece on both sides.  Put fish on the rack (or in the pan) and spray each piece lightly with cooking spray.  (you don’t have to do this but it does help clean-up afterwards)

Bake for 12-15 mins, or until breading is golden and fish flakes apart when gently prodded with a paring knife. Put butter over each fillet and allow to melt. Cut lemon into wedges and squeeze juice over buttered fillet.

Eat.

Suggestions/Tips/Warnings: Don't make your own bread crumbs unless you have the time and have left the bread out a sufficient amount of time beforehand. We hadn't, it was a disaster for me to even try doing, between toasting the bread, using our slap chop thing... No good at all. And such a mess.

If your tilapia is frozen, just run it under water or let it soak (in a baggy or Tupperware container) for 5-10 minutes (assuming their single and frozen. Takes a bit longer when multiple are stuck together) and they'll be ready to go. If the middle is still a little frozen when you put them in the oven, don't fear. Be sure to cook them for the full 15 minutes, and all will be well.

There really isn't much to it. It probably would have taken me about an hour (a little more most likely) had we actually had bread crumbs, which turned out to take the most time. Next time, we'll be buying pre-crumbed bread.