Baked Tilapia

Tilapia is a white fish native to Africa, but that can now be found worldwide thanks to fish farming.  You could probably use other mild whitefish in this recipe, but tilapia is usually easy to find and inexpensive.  The recipe might be quite good with either red snapper or flounder, however.

My mother found this recipe in a cooking magazine this fall and raved about it, but I’ve gotten out of the habit of eating fish so I didn’t think of trying it until last week, when I saw fresh-frozen tilapia filets were on sale at Trader Joe’s.   It’s an easy, quick recipe for baked fish, with a minimum of ingredients and a minimum of cooking time required.  (The latter is one of the best attributes of tilapia, in my opinion; its a thin filet, and thus usually cooks up quickly.  I use it for fish tacos a lot)

4 tilapia fillets (6 oz each) – I did it with 2 and cut the other stuff too
3 T butter melted
3 T lemon juice
1-1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 T capers, crained
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp paprika

Place tilapia in an ungreased 13×9x2 baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine the butter, lemon juice, garlic powder and salt; pour over fillets

Sprinkle with the capers, oregano and paprika

Bake, uncovered at 425°F for 10-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork

I’ll be halving the recipe for two reasons: 1) I only have two tilapia filets, and 2) I don’t need to eat this all week.  Two days will be just fine, especially since I’ll be leaving Friday morning to go home for Christmas.