For this particular recipe, I kept it as basic as possible. If you’re as busy as I am, and can’t spare a lot of time to do a bunch of preparation for dinner, this is a great starting point for you.
I’ll be sharing with you my favorite way to prepare a tilapia fillet. This is a pretty general way to prepare a fillet of fish, but I chose tilapia since it tends to be pretty cheap while still tasting delicious.
Utensils
- oven mitt
- baking sheet
- tinfoil (optional)
- cooking knife (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 fillet of tilapia
- olive oil (or nonstick spray)
- ground cumin
- salt
- pepper
- chili powder
- lemon juice (preferably fresh-squeezed, but can be from a bottle)
Instructions
Step 1:
To begin you’ll want to cover your baking sheet with some tin foil. This isn’t absolutely necessary, but I hate cleaning more dishes than is necessary, and the tinfoil can be thrown out after making the recipe and keeps your baking sheet nice and clean. Next, apply some olive oil to either the tinfoil or your baking sheet; essentially whatever the fish is going to rest on while it bakes. Again, it’s not absolutely necessary that you do this, but I highly recommend it as tilapia can be pretty fragile after it’s done cooking, and having some kind of nonstick substance on the baking sheet/tinfoil helps ensure you get the fillet off in one piece. You can use canola spray, butter, etc., but I chose olive oil because it’s pretty healthy and multi-purpose, since it’s also used in this recipe.
Step 2:
After you’ve applied your nonstick, put your fillet on top of the area you applied it to. Next, take some lemon juice and cover your fillet in it. If you’re using a fresh lemon, cut it in half, and squeeze all of the juice out of it onto the fillet. No need to use a juicer or anything fancy, just grip it and rip it. I’ve used both lemon juice from a bottle, and a fresh-squeezed lemon in this recipe, and find that it actually does make a big difference. The fresh-squeezed lemon is unbeatable. Also, to get as much flavor from that lemon as possible, let the juice soak into the fish for 30 minutes. Don’t waste time, though. Get that juice onto the fillet and go do something productive with your 30 minutes while you wait. Or don’t… whatever… chef’s choice.
Step 3:
After you’re done waiting 30 minutes, whether you were productive, or just stared at the fillet, take a little bit of olive oil and cover the surface of your fillet. Then, apply your salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Make sure you don’t put too much or too little when it comes to the seasoning. Enough to cover the surface is generally a good rule of thumb! Then take your deliciously-seasoned sea creature and put it in the oven at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Usually, I put it in for 17 minutes, not to be specific or anything like that.
After the timer is up, feel free to let the fish cool outside of the oven for a few minutes before enjoying!
This is a super simple way to very easily make a super healthy meal for yourself. Tilapia has about 24g of protein in it, and is also full of healthy oils. Fish is also considered to help improve brain function, due to its having Omega-3 in it.
Now, this is really only a very small part of a meal, that has an endless combination of potential things that you can pair with it. Personally, my favorite things to pair with a fillet of tilapia is a side of whole grain pasta, with a green vegetable, like asparagus or green beans. Plus, it’s super easy to make either of these things while you wait for your fish to cook. I wouldn’t recommend cooking up either of these things while you wait for the lemon juice to soak into your fish, as they’ll be done long before your fish is finished cooking, and will get cold while you wait for it in the oven!
Cooking Utensils Involved
A baking sheet plays the biggest role in this recipe. If you have to buy one to make this lone little fillet of fish, don’t worry! There are plenty of other things that you can make with a baking sheet and an oven, like chicken and potatoes. It’s also worth it to invest in a nice big cooking knife. You don’t need a meat cleaver or anything of that nature, but a big knife that comes to a nice point is great, as you can use it to cut fruits, veggies, or the lemon I recommend you use in the recipe. I know you might not just have the funds to go out and spend on a cooking knife, but you could go to the salvation army and find a really nice one for only a few dollars. Sure, it might be used, but at least you know that it works! Just give it a really good scrub before you use it…
Total Cost:
At the end of the day, this recipe does not cost all that much, and the ingredients involved are all things that are easily used for many other recipes. If it’s one thing I hate about some recipes I find online, it’s how they use a few very specific ingredients that you might not use in any other recipe, which end up taking up space in your fridge and ultimately getting thrown out because you don’t eat them fast enough. Anyways, here are some rough estimates for you.
- Tilapia (32 oz bag) – $11.98 (throw this in your freezer, there are about 12 fillets in it that you can make later!)
- Olive Oil – $5.49
- Fresh Lemon – $2.50
- Assorted Seasoning – about $10
The seasoning in particular can be pretty cheap. All of these prices are based off of Wegman’s brand food. I find that it’s typically of very good quality, but therefore also more expensive!
