Really Easy Baked Tilapia

Per my big (ahem, elder) sister’s request, I’m going to share one of my favorite fast and healthy recipes—baked tilapia.  Mike and I are huge seafood fans.  I absolutely love Chilean sea bass or halibut, but who can afford it?  I never cook it at home because I’m afraid I’d ruin it and be out 30 bucks.  Tilapia, on the other hand, is like…the pork butt of seafood.  It’s really cheap, and you can buy it frozen in decent sized bags.  We always have some in our freezer.  This tilapia recipe is really low maintenance because we usually have all the ingredients on hand.  The only downside is that it’s not a leftovers kind of meal.  Reheated fish = nasty and stinky.  The first time I tried baked tilapia it was just okay, but after several changes to the recipe, I think I’ve perfected it.  Here it is.

Things you need:
Tilapia filets
Fresh lemon
Butter
Old Bay seasoning
Garlic salt
Dried basil
Pepper

What you do:
Preheat oven to 400.  Lay out the filets in a pyrex/casserole dish.  Cut your lemon in half and squeeze all the juice from one half over the filets.  Cut the other half into really thin slices and set aside.  Sprinkle the filets with a lot of Old Bay and a little garlic salt, pepper, and dried basil (to taste).  Put a small pat of butter on each filet, then put a lemon slice on each filet.  Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes, make sure fish flakes easily before you take it out of the oven.

We usually serve this with a side of broccoli and rice.

(I grabbed this photo from Google, but that's what it looks like)

Tip: Always keep a couple of lemons in your refrigerator.  Practically every good, healthy recipe calls for lemon juice or zest.  If I counted up the minutes I spent running to the grocery store for just a lemon…

Cheers--

Lesley