Now I'm gonna apologize right off the bat, folks, because I found this recipe just last week on someone's blog...and I thought I bookmarked it so I could give credit and a link to the recipe. But now I can't find it. [This is only one of the many problems of blog hopping at 1:30 in the morning!] I'm pretty sure I left a comment on that particular blog about wanting to try the recipe, so hopefully I'll run across it someday so I can edit this post to give that credit. I did scour the web for quite awhile looking for it...and I did see this recipe many times...but not on the right blog. So for now I'll just have to post the recipe sans the credit.
I'll also add that I'm not a major fish person. I like fish, but I don't generally cook it well. And my favorite fish is Halibut, but that is always so expensive around here. Tilapia is certainly not my favorite fish (they're bottom feeders, after all), but I'm always willing to try new recipes and this one really did sound yummy. So I gave it a shot, with a few modifications of my own, naturally. And I must say, it was quite good...even the Hubs gave it a thumbs up. :)
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Flour
- 1/4 TSP Salt
- Pepper, to taste
- 2 Egg Whites
- 1 Pound Tilapia fillets
- 1/4 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs
- 1/4 Cup Corn Meal
- 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
- 1/2 Packet Good Season Italian Dressing Mix
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Spray a shallow baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Stir Flour, Salt & Pepper together into a shallow dish or bowl and set aside.
- Mix Egg Whites in a bowl and set aside.
- In another bowl, combine Bread Crumbs, Corn Meal, Parmesan, and Italian Dressing Mix.
- Dip each Tilapia fillet first into the Flour, then into the Egg Whites, and then into the Bread Crumb mixture.
- Lay fillets in the baking dish, tucking under or overlapping any thinner ends of the fillets to help with more even cooking.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until flaky and tender.
A couple of notes too...whenever I see Parmesan Cheese in recipe, I always assume they mean the Kraft brand in the big green-label container. And most of the time that is OK. But for this recipe I wanted to be different, so I used a container of "freshly shredded" Parmesan, which you can usually find in the dairy case with all the other cheeses. You could also shred or grate your own too. I just like the taste of that shredded cheese, and it gave the fish a nice look too.
Also, I think you could substitute many different kinds of fish for the Tilapia (even Halibut!) in this recipe. It's so tasty, I just don't think you could go wrong either way. And most of the other recipes I saw for this called for dried basil, rather than the Italian Dressing Mix...but I love to use Italian Dressing Mix for seasoning, so I used that instead.
And come to think of it...I think this would be a great recipe for chicken too! The mind boggles at the infinite possibilities, don'tcha think? OK, yes, it's after midnight and I really need to go to bed. But I hope you'll give this a try.