Somethin' fishy...?

Anyone out there have a quick, easy recipe for Tilapia?
I've never eaten this type of fish but a friend recommended it, so thought I'd give it a try. There's a
rather large package in my freezer, waiting for me to
decide how to prepare it. Suggestions?

We eat a lot of Tilapia. Our favourite way to cook it is to coat it in egg and flour and then fry it in a LITTLE bit of butter (just enough to give it flavour and to keep it from sticking to the pan). Sprinkle with lemon pepper while it's frying. It cooks very quickly.

However, hubby's having cholesterol problems right now, so we've changed the recipe. Actually it's what we're having for supper tonight. I chop up lots of onions and cover the bottom of a casserole dish with a layer of onions. Then I just lay the fish on top, then cover the fish with the rest of the onions. Then bake, but I don't know how long...usually 20-30 minutes at 350 will do, you just have to test and see if the fish is cooked. This recipe is much healthier, and the onions infuse the fish with lots of flavour; then you can just salt-and-pepper to taste.

BTW, my sister-in-law cooks salmon this way (with the layers of onions). She wraps it (the fish and onions) in foil, which is so much easier to clean! She also makes a white sauce to go on top, which is so yummy. But we find that the tilapia is flavourful enough that we don't need the sauce (again, watching the cholesterol!)

Thanks Eagle. I was told Tilapia is an excellent fish. I already
love Orange Rough. I coat that with pancake flour and fry it.
That does not have any fishy taste; it's white 'n yummy.
I'm going to try Tilapia tonight. Not sure if I'll bake it or
fry it. Depends on what mood I'm in. But we'll see. WB has to watch his cholesterol, too. I use light butter all the time. Onions don't agree with him, either. So I use shallots, instead. The man's more finicky than I am. Again, thanks for the input, Eagle!

We don't use butter for preparing any of our fish or seafood dishes at home. (I will have a great seafood dish in a restaurant if it happens to have a bit of butter.)

I'm more used to Asian style of steaming fish. Which is quite healthy, fast and would use little oil. Fresh ginger roots slices and green onion when steamed is meant to take away the fishy taste. There is abit of soy sauce.

The fish comes out quite tender. It can be done with fillets, fish steaks, etc.

I did try the Tilapia last night. I cooked it the way Eagle suggested. WB liked it. I wasn't real impressed; still like
orange roughy best. It was NOT unpleasant or anything. It was
just okay. I coated it and pan fried it.

I use my granddad's recipe for oven-grilling fish -- though he used butter and I use olive oil. And he probably used a real grill and I use the oven.

Anyway, put the fish on a heavy pan (I have an Armatelle pan), drizzle with oil, lots of garlic, some thyme or dill, depending on the fish, a little paprika, and it's done in about 7-8 minutes. You don't have to turn it.

I only buy wild caught fish and never farm-raised. Salmon, tuna, and rock fish (striped bass) are our faves, but occasionally tilapia.

However...I've noticed recently that if I eat fish for dinner, I often don't sleep very well. My sister's theory is that fishermen sprinkle sulphides on the fish when they're out on the boat.

I eat tons of talipia and have several ways to fix it but try these two if you want to.

Place fish on aluminum foil, lightly salt and pepper to taste, place lemon slices and juice on the fish and covere with a slice of mild cheese, whatever is your favorite. Wrap and place in toaster oven for 30 minutes on 350.

Or instead of the lemon and cheese places a couple spoons of stewed tomatoes on top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Close and bake.

Or for those with cholesterol concerns. Coat the fish with egg beaters and roll in Quaker Instant Oats, lay on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. When done use fresh lemon squeeze on top. NO cholesterol, just crispy, flaky good fish.
Oh you could also deep fry these with the oat outer covering and they get super crispy.

I LOVE tilapia... it's a white fish, which I prefer. And, it's reasonable. I buy them in the individually wrapped packages and take a couple out for DH and myself, to make a meal. I rinse the pieces off, cover them with Lantana seasoning, pan fry them in olive oil, roasted sesame seed oil, or grapeseed oil. While they are browning, I squeeze a lemon or line on both of them, then fry the leftover lemon or lime. Oh man, it is so good, esp. with steamed broccoli and brown rice.

Wow, ladies. All these recipes sound good. I will try them for I
have some Tilapia packages left. I bought a club package at
Wegmans. Unlike orange rough, which takes a couple fillets to
suffice, only one package per person works for the Tilapia.
I'm surely gonna try some of these ideas. Thanks!

It will be nice when the weather is warm enough to cook on the
grill. I do lots of meat out on the patio May to September.

You can also cook any kind of fish on the grill. Just wrap it in heavy duty foil and cover in butter and fresh veges, wrap closed and allow to steam/cook/bake on the grill. Oh my so GOOOOOOOD!

chatty, we're grillers too. And fish on the grill is my favorite way to eat it. We use the aluminum foil also. A couple dabs of butter and a little Old Bay (the spice we use for making steamed crabs) is great on salmon.

I'm so glad its getting warmer here. I'll be cooking less and Ross will be grilling more.

I like the burnt singes grilling produces, carcinogenic or not...lol. We use the fish holders for grilling fish, so we can get this effect. I like my fish dry, really dry.

I'm curious about you all that eat fish. I don't like fish all that much, and very rarely ever eat it. Taste tooooo fishy for me no matter how it's fixed. If I may ask, do you eat fish because you think it's healthier for you than beef, or do you just like the taste of it over other meat? Are you not as concerned as much about the methyl mercury found in some fish, as you are about the saturated fat found in red meat?

Cookie, speaking for myself, I didn't like fish either... well, except for fried catfish (well-done! fried catfish - because I hate that fishy taste, TOO!). But, then my DH and one of his friend/customers fished out in the bay and brought home some of the whitest and cleanest tasting fish EVER. I was hooked. After that, my daughter prepared tilapia for us, which is also a white fish, just not so meaty as the bay fish. When cooked certain ways, you rarely get that horrible 'fishy' taste. That's a problem, because my DH likes the fishy taste. I wouldn't want it every night, but I don't want chicken or beef every night, either. We don't eat pork - well, maybe on rare occasions. I do cook greens and beans with ham hock or bacon.

I hate the taste of chicken, and certain cuts of beef. Can't stand ground meat - UCK! - it's more the thought, tho.

I guess we eat fish for variety, mostly.

I love the clean white fish like walleye, talipia, and haddock. I have never had a fish meal where the fish tasted fishy in a negative way. Maybe its because I only use the freshest same day caught fish. Except for the Talipia which I usually buy in bulk, flash frozen. I just like fish especially with fresh lemon!!!
Oh and Agime, I could eat fried fresh catfish everyday, I swear...yummy.

I eat all meats. I can make anything taste good and have. Its a talent one learns when using spices. I love a good Leg of Lamb for instance or turkey, chicken and even liver with bacon and onions. Beef and Pork roasts are a favorite if mine too. Lordy, now I'm getting hungry again.

Orange rough does not taste fishy and it's white, white, white!

My Mom was Newfie, brought up on fish, hubby was born and raised the youngest of 15 children in northern Quebec where fish was pretty much the only affordable staple, and I lived 17 years in Nova Scotia, so we've both always eaten fish. I haven't yet tasted a fish I didn't like. We eat a lot of fish, mostly tilapia, rainbow trout, wild salmon, red snapper and sometimes catfish. We also like cod, halibut, haddock, Arctic char, and others I don't know the names of. It's one of the things hubby and I love to try when we travel, all the different fish cooked so many different ways.

we like the steak-type fish the best -- tuna, salmon, mahi mahi, and ahi. Neither of us likes mild white fish because it's boring and takes more work to give it pizazz, but we buy it a few times a year anyhow just for variety.

I haven't had red meat for 35 years, and I don't own a grill.

My 1st husband loved fishing. He'd catch trout; clean 'em; wrap 'em in bacon 'n foil, and cook them on an open fire.
Great taste.

Eagle, how do you prepare your fish?

We're not big fish eaters, except for grilled fish or ordering fish in a restaurant. Maybe it has something to do with eating fish sticks on Fridays as a good Catholic child. Ha, but I don't like fish that tastes like fish either. That's why we use butter, lemon, Old Bay, lemon pepper, cajun spices, etc.

We eat fish about twice a week, more if you count canned tuna as a fish. I love lettuce with canned tuna and a bit of lemon. Sometimes I will eat canned salmon, but I prefer the tuna.

For dinner, we usually eat salmon once a week, and what ever else looks good when I stop in the store. Often another type of fish (we love it all) or another seafood, when there is a special. I love a couple of huge scallops, just lightly fried in oil and garlic.

I eat almost anything, but I do prefer chicken and seafood/fish over red meat or pork.

This recipe best captures the simplicity of steaming fish. Can be a fish fillet or fish steak, not whole fish is required.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Food/Chinese-Steamed-Fish-with-Scallions

For above recipe, I would reduce soy sauce and oil each by 20% or more. You don't need a bamboo steamer. Just a flat round glass pie dish or stainless dish with sides. Put in pan of water, water about 1 inch high or less in pot. And turn on water, when water boils, turn down to medium and let fish steam. Check occasionally and add water if steaming water around dish is gettin' low.

Dotsie, in answer to your question, we usually prepare our fish one of two ways. Our favourite way is to cover the bottom of a casserole dish with onions (sometimes we also put thinly sliced parsnips under the onions), lay the fish on top of the onions, sprinkle with lemon pepper and/or paprika, then pile more onions on top, cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes (depending on how thick the filets are). It's so yummy. Then we make a white sauce to go on top. Serve with baked potatoes and asparagus. That's one of our very favourite meals.

Hubby sometimes also lightly coats the fish in egg and flour, sprinkles with lemon pepper and fries them in a little bit of oil.

I prefer a restaurant fish fry. Love shrimp and have that every
so often. About twice a year, I enjoy lobster tail. The rest of
the time its haddock, orange roughy, and tuna; recently we're
trying talapia, due to a friend's recommendation. I really
like some of those recipes, there ladies. Sounds good.