Almond and Parmesan Baked Tilapia

Yesterday after school I was exercising with my sister Pam and I happened to mention that when I got home I'd be trying out some kind of recipe for Tilapia. Pam was not impressed; turns out she had a bad experience with Tilapia in a restaurant. Oh how I wish she could have tasted the dish I came up with. The fish was delicious, with a lightly seasoned crust of almond meal and parmesan, golden brown from the oven.

That's not to say that I was 100% satisfied with it. Some of the coating stuck to the bottom of the dish when I turned it, probably because I am out of nonstick coating so I didn't use any. I made that correction in the recipe I'm giving you. But overall I would say this was fantastic. Because the fish was coated with almond meal this was also a very South Beach friendly dish. If you don't care about that, you could make something similar to this with breadcrumbs, but the almond coating was delicious. Please do use real butter to dip the fish in. You're only eating the small amount of butter that clings to the fish, most of the butter is left in the dish.

Tilapia is so much cheaper than many kinds of fish because it is farm raised in the United States. I buy my Tilapia in frozen individually-wrapped filets from Costco. I had thawed out one rather large filet to cook, planning to save half for a lunch later in the week. It was so delicious I ate the whole thing for dinner instead!

ALMOND PARMESAN BAKED TILAPIA

3-4 Tilapia filets, thawed if frozen
(This recipe will work best with pieces that are at least 1/2 inch thick.)

1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup almond meal (I use Bob's Red Mill brand)
2 T finely grated parmesan or asiagocheese
1/2 tsp. Johnny's Great Caesar Garlic Seasoning
(or regular garlic powder can be substituted)
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. Pride of Szeged Fish Rub (optional, but recommended)

Preheat oven to 425. Melt butter. Mix almond meal, parmesan, Johnny's Garlic powder, lemon pepper and fish rub well in a flat dish. Spray flat baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Dip each fish filet in butter, turning to coat both sides, then into almond mixture. Try to get as much of the almond mixture to stick to the fish as you can. (I pressed it down with a fork.)

Bake 20-30 minutes, turning carefully halfway through, or until fish is firm to the touch and coating is turning golden brown. The baking time will depend on the thickness of the fish, so watch it carefully.

I ate this with homemade tartar sauce:

KALYN'S HOMEMADE TARTAR SAUCE

1 cup mayo (or use half mayo and half light mayo)
1/3 cup dill pickles
2 T capers
1 tsp. onion powder
Put pickles into bowl of food processor and process until finely minced. Add other ingredients and pulse a few times. This will keep in the refrigerator for about a month. It's not a low fat creation, but it sure did taste good on the fish.

(Edit, April 2008: Here's a much more South Beach Friendly version of tartar sauce which I'd definitely prefer now.)

This is a great main course for any phase of The South Beach Diet. For phase one, you could serve it with Grilled Asparagus with Parmesan or Arugula and Sweet Mini-Pepper Salad. For phase two or three, add something like Kalyn's Tabbouli with Almonds, or Brown Rice with Cashews and Herbs.

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