Parmesan Crusted Skillet Tilapia

Growing up in England, I loved fish and chips, I’d go to the local “Chippy” and get fried, battered cod and chips (French fries), wrapped up in newspaper, loaded with salt and vinegar. Specifically malt vinegar. Well, there may be a Chippy on every corner in Romford (my home town), but not here. Looks like I have to fend for myself. And, there’s another problem, I have to stay away from deep fried food. This is not good. Cod is not that cheap either. So, I’ll do my own take on fish and chips. Parmesan crusted Skillet tilapia, and I’ll serve it with plank potatoes.

The fish

From it’s humble beginnings in the Nile waters of ancient Egypt, the Tilapia has grown to the 4th most consumed fish in America. It’s cheap, easy to raise and it has a mild taste. It’s and extremely versatile component to many fish based recipes. Most Tilapia is farm raised, you can buy it either fresh or frozen. Tilapia was on sale so I picked up a pack of 6 individually packaged fillets at my local store. I need two fillets for each meal, the rest I will leave frozen till needed. I have a healthy appetite, so I eat two fillets per meal, you may eat less. Just cook more for more people.

In this recipe I’ll just coat it in breadcrumbs and cheese, cook in the skillet with a little olive oil for six mins, and that’s it. Delicious. If you’re cooking plank potatoes to go with the parmesan crusted pan fried tilapia, put them up first. The plank potatoes take 20 mins to cook. The fish only requires three mins on each side. If you need to make more fish than you can cook at one time, put the oven on low to keep the fillets warm before serving

The how

For each pair of fillets I’m going to cook I will use 1/2 cup of parmesan and 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs. The amount of cheese is the secret to this dish, it has to have a cheesy flavor. But, cheese and breadcrumbs don’t stick well to plain tilapia, we need some glue. The glue will be a beaten egg. However, to help the egg stick to the fish, I use all purpose flour, and, that will be an ideal way to add some seasoning. Salt, pepper and Complete Seasoning. Complete Seasoning is available in the spice aisle, and is a mix of herbs I like to use it.

The coating is a one plate process. Place the fillets on a plate, add a couple of tablespoons of flour and coat the fish. The flour helps the egg to stick to the fish. Now a couple of tablespoons of beaten egg, making sure the fillets are completely covered. The egg is the glue. Finally the cheesy breadcrumbs, making sure the coating covers the entire fillets, and that’s it, easy, and just one plate gets dirty.

Preheat a skillet with two tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. My preference is cast iron, but use what you have. Lay the two coated fillets in the skillet, wait three mins, using a spatula flip the fillets, cook three mins, remove from the pan. If that’s all you’ll cook, plate with the potatoes and serve. If you’re going to cook more, place the fillets on an oven tray in a warm oven. Add one tablespoon olive oil to the pan and cook two more fillets. Continue this till you’re done.

That’s it, Parmesan crusted skillet tilapia, a simple, quick recipe, and oh so delicious. Thank you for reading and please enjoy