Asian Tuna Nuggets

I went crazy at the grocery store this week and got some tuna nuggets instead of the usual tilapia.  (I know... pick yourself up off the floor)

I've been experimenting with Asian flavors recently and decided to try them out with this tuna.  It was a delicious and it was nice to have something a little different. This recipe uses some ingredients that I've bought for other recipes and haven't used all the much.

Mr. T really enjoyed this so I'm hoping that you will too!

Asian Tuna Nuggets:

1 pound tuna nuggets
1 scallion, sliced thinly
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Sirarcha
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon honey
Juice of half a lime
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
sesame seeds for garnish

In a small bowl mix together the scallion, garlic clove, rice vinegar, Sirarcha, sesame oil, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey, lime juice, and ground ginger.  Add the tuna and let marinate for at least half an hour.

Heat a skillet on medium-high heat.  Spray the pan with some nonstick spray and cook the tuna for about a minute on each side.

Fried Catfish

We had old school Southern Night last Sunday night.  I made a basic fried catfish and it was delicious!!

Cornmeal is the only thing to use when making fried catfish.  There are a million different seasonings that you can use with your fish but since I always have Old Bay on hand I just used it.  I love to eat this with lima beans and cheese grits. 

Fried Catfish:

2 catfish fillets
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (I use Old Bay)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 eggs, beaten
Canola oil, enough to pan fry your fish in

Heat your oil in a pan to about 375.

Set up a breading station: flour in one pan, eggs in one pan, and cornmeal in one pan.

Season the catfish fillets with the Cajun seasoning and garlic powder.  Dip the fish in the flour and knock off the extra.  Dip the fish in the beaten eggs and then press the fish into the cornmeal, shaking off any extra.

Fry the fish in the oil for about 3 minutes per side.  The fish should be flaky when it's finished.

Broiled Tilapia

We eat a lot of tilapia.  It's delicious and it goes on sale a lot.  That being said I tend to make tilapia the same 3 ways every time we have it for supper.

This recipe came off of the Weight Watchers website and it super easy and tasty.  These ingredients are things everyone has around the house.  If you don't have garlic herb seasoning just use garlic and onion powder (but I suggest getting some Mrs. Dash, I use it all the time).

Broiled Tilapia:
(Weight Watchers- 3 pp+)


4 tilapia fillets
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon garlic herb seasoning

Preheat broiler and spray a roasting pan with non stick spray.

Season both sides of the fish with salt and pepper.  Place the fish in the pan, drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with the garlic and herb seasoning.

Broil until the fish is fork-tender, about 5 minutes.

Grilled Fish Tacos

Mr. T and I do taco nights almost weekly.   I'm always looking for some new ideas and this one was right up our alley.  Basic white fish (I used tilapia) goes on sale most weeks and tacos are an easy way to get your kids to eat more vegetables.

Grilled Fish Tacos:
(Grilled Fish Tacos)

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh white fish such as tilapia, cod, sole, or flounder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Favorite fresh salsa- my favorite brand
Lettuce (optional)
7 - 8 fat-free flour tortillas

Directions:
Arrange fish in a 2-quart square baking dish; set aside. In a small bowl whisk together lemon juice, oil, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Pour over fish. Turn fish to coat with marinade. Cover and chill for 15 minutes. Drain fish, discarding any marinade. Stack tortillas and wrap in foil.

Either grill the fish or sear the fillets in a skillet over medium high heat for 4-5 minutes of until flaky.

Transfer fish to a cutting board. Cut or flake fish into 1-inch pieces. Serve in warmed tortillas topped with a salsa of choice.

Cornmeal Crusted Fish

I have come up with another way to eat fish.  I used tilapia, pulled some stuff out of the pantry, and went to town.  It turned out pretty tasty and it was a nice way to change up a dish that we have a lot.

Cornmeal Crusted Fish:

2 tilapia fillets (or more if you're feeding more than 2 people)
2-3 egg whites
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon blackening spice (I used Old Bay)
salt and pepper
Olive Oil

Heat a pan on medium high heat and add some olive oil.  I think I used about 2 tablespoons.  Put the egg whites in one bowl and the cornmeal, salt, pepper, and blackening spice in another bowl and mix together.

Take each fish fillet and put it in the egg white then in the cornmeal mixture.  Press the cornmeal onto the fish and shake off any excess.  Place each fillet in the heated pan and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until the fish is cooked through and flaky.

Sautéed Fish Sticks

I don't usually talk about the failures I have in the kitchen.  I don't know why, I guess it's because I don't know who would want to read about it.  I wasn't going to blog this but a couple of my friends convinced me to go ahead and share this recipe and share what went wrong with it in my eyes.

Sauteed Fish Sticks:
(Clean Eating Magazine)


Ingredients:
1 slice whole-grain bread
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 egg
3/4 lb boneless, skinless tilapia fillet, rinsed with cold water and patted dry

Directions:
In a food processor, process bread into crumbs. Set aside.

Crack egg into a medium bowl. Chop tilapia as finely as possible and add to egg. Add 1/4 cup bread crumbs to tilapia mixture, then use hands to thoroughly combine.

Divide fish mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each into a rectangular stick about 2 1/2 inches long. Pour another 1/4 cup bread crumbs into a large or flat-bottomed soup bowl. Dredge each stick in bread crumbs, pressing lightly to coat both sides.

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet for 1 minute on medium. Add fish sticks to pan and cook, covered, for 4 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown.














Use heatproof tongs to gently flip sticks over and cook for another 3 minutes or until both sides are golden brown.

Here were my issues:
1.  My pan got WAY too hot and everything burned.  Awesome.
2.  The texture was off.  I don't know if it's because I didn't chop my fish up enough or what.
3.  The fish were kind of bland.  It's an easy fix but I still wanted to throw it out there.

I think that these could be really good and I think that kids would love this.  I'm not sure that I'm going to try to make them again but here the recipe is so that you can be your own judge.

Crispy Lemon Tilapia

Tilapia was on sale this week. (It seems like I use that sentence a lot, oh well)  I was on a quest to try a different preparation of a household classic.

I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen and decided to give it a shot.  Most of the ingredients are all things that I keep in the house almost all of the time.














Crispy Lemon Tilapia:
(adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients:
1 pound Tilapia Fillets
¼ teaspoons Kosher Salt
⅛ teaspoons Black Pepper
3 Tablespoons Flour
1 Tablespoon Old Bay
1 whole Lemon, Zest And Juice
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley

Directions:

Lightly season both sides of the tilapia fillets with kosher salt and pepper to taste.  On a separate plate, mix the flour, seasoning and lemon zest.  Lightly dredge each tilapia fillet in the flour mixture, coating each side and pressing coating onto flesh so that it sticks.

In a large non-stick skillet, heat olive oil and butter over medium-high heat. Place the coated fish in the skillet and let it cook, for 2 minutes. Flip the fish and cook for 2 more minutes on the other side.

Remove the fish, squeeze the lemon juice over the fish. Serve immediately.

Lemon-Chive Tilapia

In my quest to use some of my old cookbooks and cooking magazines I found this recipe for tilapia, and you all know how much my household eats tilapia.

This was easy to make and except for the fact that my fish stuck to the pan it turned out great.

Lemon-Chive Tilapia:
(Clean Eating Magazine- June 2011)

4 boneless tilapia fillets
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch chives, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Juice of a lemon

In a small bowl mix together lemon juice, chives, and salt. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and let lightly brown. Add the tilapia and cook for 3 minutes then flip and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, until it's opaque.

Serve each fillet with a tablespoon of the lemon chive sauce on top.

Barbecue Shark

Publix sells shark meat.  Did you know that?  I didn't.  We decided to give it a shot and try it out.  We got this recipe from Publix too, it was printed on the label from the seafood department.

Barbecue Shark:

(Publix)

2 tablespoons butter

2 tabelspoons brown sugar

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons green onion, chopped

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 pound shark fillet

Combine all ingredients, except for the fish, in a small saucepan.  Heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.  Coat the fish with the warm mixture and place on a grill with medium high heat.  Cook for 5-7 minutes on each side.  Baste the fish with the sauce as it cooks.

Parmesan Tilapia Fillet

Publix has had crazy amounts of seafood on sale this week!  This recipe was actually printed on the label from the seafood department.  It was really easy to make.  I added some extra seasoning to the breading because that's how Mr. T and I roll.

Parmesan Tilapia Fillet:
(adapted from Publix)

2/3 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
4 tilapia fillets

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix together the bread crumbs, chili powder, garlic powder, Old Bay, and Parmesan cheese.  In a different bowl mix together the egg and milk.  Coat the tilapia fillets in the egg mixture, then the breadcrumb mixture.

Place breaded fillets on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with a nonstick spray.  Bake for 5-6 minutes, turn over and bake for an additional 5-6 minutes.

Sesame-Crusted Tilapia

This is another recipe that I found in Clean Eating Magazine. I love tilapia fillets and I'm always looking for a new way to eat them.  This has quickly become one of my favorites. 

It took about 10 minutes to make, which is perfect for a week night meal.

Sesame-Crusted Tilapia:
(Clean Eating Magazine, March 2011)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons olive oil
½  teaspoon sesame oil
4 6-ounce tilapia fillets
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 425 degrees..

In a small bowl whisk together the lime juice, soy sauce, 2 teaspoons ginger, 2 teaspoons olive oil, and ½ teaspoon sesame oil.  Place tilapia in a shallow baking pan lined with foil and sprayed with nonstick spray.  Pour marinade over top, coating both sides of the fish.  Sprinkle sesame seeds evenly over the top and bake for 8 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Pour lime juice over the top of the fish when serving.