Easy Seafood

During the summer especially, we like to eat some type of seafood once a week. Usually we have tilapia or another type of white fish. Why? Well to be honest with you, because it's cheap - and we like it too! I should probably branch out more and start marinating and grilling some salmon, or splurging on some red snapper - but I found a way to jazz up tilapia that was pretty darn good. For dinner the other night, we made Cooking Light's version of almond-crusted tilapia and served it with some french bread and fresh green beans from my in-laws garden. The crust made the tilapia surprising filling and gave it some crunch, which I tend to think fish needs to compensate for it's floppy texture. This recipe was so simple, quick (ready within 15 minutes), and healthy as well!

Almond-Crusted Tilapia

Adapted this recipe from: Cooking Light

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of almonds

2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

1 tsp seasoning (I used Adobo) - Cooking Light recommends Mrs. Dash garlic & herb

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon dijon mustard  or 1 egg white (Nathan doesn't like dijon, so we instead coated his in egg white before dredging it in the almond mixture)

2 (6-ounce) tilapia filets

Parsley for a garnish

Directions:

Place the almonds, breadcrumbs, seasoning, and pepper in a food processor or a blender and process until the mixture is finely ground. Put this mixture in a shallow dish for dredging the fish in.

Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat and brush the mustard or egg whites over the fish. Dredge the fish in the crumb mixture. Add fish to pan and cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Be SURE to have enough oil in the pan, otherwise your crumb topping will burn. When it's ready, the fish will flake easily and be warm all the way through. Remove it from the pan and sprinkle with parsley if you choose to!