RECIPE: Tilapia Filets in Garlic-Lemon Butter Sauce

I made tilapia filets for dinner the other night and we were all really pleased with how delicious they were. Living in Indiana, we're really not accustomed to eating anything that isn't made of cow, pig or chicken. Seafood scares us.

But several of my friends have told me of the wonders of tilapia, saying that it is mild, non-fishy and easy to prepare. "Easy to prepare" is always a nice sound in my ear, so last week at the grocery we bought some nice flash-frozen filets.

The recipe for the butter sauce couldn't have been easier. Here's what I used:

6 tablespoons of butter

3 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried parsley OR 1 tablespoon fresh parsley

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

paprika


I sautéed the minced garlic in the butter until the butter was a little bit brown, then added the lemon juice and parsley and gave it a bit of a stir. When it was all combined and smelling very savory, I tipped about half the sauce onto a foil-covered baking sheet that had also been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Once that was done, I placed four frozen filets on the butter sauce and then poured the rest of it over the fish, sprinkling them with the paprika, which adds some nice color along with the wilted parsley leaves and the pepper.

I cooked the filets at 400⁰ F for twenty minutes, until the fish was cooked through the middle and flaked when tested with a fork.

This simply couldn't have been easier. It tasted really good and everyone said they'd like to have it again, which pleased me greatly. That is the FIRST TIME in the twenty-three years since I left the care and protection of my parents' home that I have cooked any kind of fish other than fish sticks or Tuna Helper, no kidding.