I originally found this in an old Cooking Light magazine, and it’s become one of our go-to, easy meals, perfect for spring or summer.  It’s super fast and simple, but it’s delicious and elegant enough for company.  We most recently served it for an early birthday celebration for my mom.  You can easily substitute out the cilantro for whatever is in season or on hand, and I’m just thinking lime zest instead of lemon would be a tasty substitution as well; you could also use any mild fish instead of the tilapia.  It went great with the fresh peas we found at the farmer’s market.  Delicious, fresh, simple, and with tilapia, usually pretty inexpensive, too!

Tilapia with Cilantro Butter

Adapted from Cooking Light

4 fillets of tilapia
1 t cumin
1/2 t cayenne pepper
4 T butter, softened
4 T cilantro, finely chopped
1 lemon
1/2 t paprika
salt
cooking spray

Into the butter, mix in the cilantro, the zest from the lemon, the paprika, and a sprinkling of salt. Set aside.

Sprinkle the tilapia on both sides with cumin and cayenne pepper. (The amounts I give are approximate; I just give a few good shakes of cumin and a bit of cayenne.) Preheat a large skillet or griddle over medium high heat. Spray the griddle and both sides of the fish with cooking spray. Cook over medium high, about 4 minutes per side, until fish turns opaque and flakes easily with a fork. Resist the urge to move it around as it cooks, or the tilapia will completely fall apart.

Squirt lemon juice over the fish, and serve with the cilantro butter.

Tags: easy, Fish, Main Dish

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 6:19 pm and is filed under Fish, Just for John, Main Dish, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.