Recipe Recap: Parmesan and Panko Tilapia

I’m going to give you something healthy in between the treats.  I promise, I do more in the kitchen than mix butter and sugar together and cover it in chocolate.  Not very often, I’ll admit, but Sundays are my days to cook an actual meal, and I enjoy doing it.

I bought a big bag of frozen tilapia from Walmart a few weeks ago so we decided to finally give those frosty filets a try.  I went with a tried and true concoction so even if the fish weren’t the freshest, at least we knew we liked the stuff I put on it.

In a shallow dish, I mixed together 1/4 cup of panko crumbs, 1/8 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp. of pepper, and several liberal shakes of garlic and onion powder.

I smeared some French’s Chardonnay Dijon on one side of the fish.

Then I put the filet mustard-side down into my bread crumb mixture.

I repeated the mustard smearing and flipped the fish over to coat the other side.  Then I set my filets on a baking rack set up on a cooking sheet, thinking that by the fish being up off a solid surface, the bottom wouldn’t get mushy.  (It worked; they didn’t.)

I stuck my four filets in the oven at 375 degrees for 14 minutes.  While those baked, I steamed a head of cauliflower and nuked my Steamfresh Sweet Peas.

We thoroughly enjoyed this meal.  I think the key is to use a mustard with a strong, enjoyable flavor and to not skimp on it.  I have to say, it was nice to have a big (by my standards), well-rounded meal that fit within the calorie budget.

The McHusband had two of the filets for dinner, and we saved one for him to eat within the next couple days.  His verdict of the leftover fish?  Pretty good.  When we make this again, he asked that I do four filets again so he’ll have one to eat as lunch or dinner the next day.  Sounds like a pretty solid endorsement to me.

If you love fish, like it okay, or tolerate it only because you know it’s good for you, try this recipe.  I know we’ll be making it many times over (and not just because we’ve still got a bag full of fish in the freezer).

{For those interested, I entered the recipe into MFP and each 4 oz filet worked out to about 205 calories.  The entire meal came in at 360 calories, which isn’t that much more than my weeknight Kashi dinner when I have 1.25 cups of cereal with 1 cup of skim milk.}