We actually like fish in my house. We often enjoy frying some up for fish tacos. But rare is it that we cook fish in its fillet form. So, it was last week when I was thumbing through my new Food Network Magazine that this recipe for Tilapia Milanese caught my eye. And, since I don’t cook chicken in my kitchen anymore and I honestly haven’t had as good a pork chop since we covered the grill for the season, I thought I’d give fish another try. Glad I did! Check it out! By the way, I decided that what I made in my kitchen will be called Tilapia Milanese with Leaves. I’ll explain as we get a little further down. 

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

You’ll need 4 6-ounce Tilapia fillets.

And soak them in a bowl with ice and 1 1/2 cups of milk for up to 15 minutes. Mine soaked longer because I was slow in prepping everything in the meantime. I think it just needs to soak for at least 15 minutes.  By the way, I used skim milk and it was just fine.

Prepare 1 cup of flour your first dredging station (again with the word dredge…might there be a nicer word?)

Add salt and pepper to it and mix it all together.

The recipe called for 6 slices of white sandwich bread to make into the third dredging station (the second station is an egg wash, but I’m sure you don’t need to see me prepare that). Instead I chose to use this pre-sliced Italian bread which I tore into small pieces for the food processor.

I then added 1/3 cup of flat leaf parsley leaves and the zest of half a large lemon with a pinch of salt.

Pulse it until it looks like this!

In the meantime, we began preparing a side of Cous Cous. This isn’t in the recipe, but we like it with fish. It’s light and satisfying. Before the dredging begins, prepare a foil lined baking sheet, because the fish will finish cooking in the oven.

Dredge No. 1: Each fillet goes through the flour mixture until will coated.

Dredge No. 2: Then it goes through the 3- egg mixture.

Dredge No. 3: The good stuff. Make sure you get it all over the fillet, pressing it down if necessary. Transfer the four fillets onto a holding plate.

Begin melting 4 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. (Don’t be scared here…I just learned at a health seminar the other day that butter isn’t bad and olive oil is a friendly fat!)

Working two at a time, cook the fillets until golden.

That’s about three minutes per side.

After all four have been cooked in the skillet, place onto the foil-lined pan and finish the process in the oven for about eight minutes.

While the fish cooks, you can prepare a lovely salad to go with it. This is what I am referring to as the leaves because thats all they are! I’m used to making a side salad with additional goodies in it and actual dressing…but not with this one! Leaves!

The recipe calls for arugula, but I chose to use a mixture of that with baby spinach. And, in addition to the olive oil, salt and pepper that the recipe calls to toss it with, I used some zest from the lemon and a little of it’s juice. This flavor complemented the fish so well and I am a new fan of arugula. I love its tangy flavor! Yay!

Prepare your garnish of lemon slices.

We cooked our Cous Cous with some of the left over parsely leaves, juice from the lemon and a little zest. Plus salt and pepper. Delicious!

We will make this again.

I remembered why we enjoy fish. It didn’t leave us feeling full after we were done. The breading on this is very flavorful and fresh-tasting. Not feeling full was good because that was one of our New Year’s resolutions this year – to not feel full anymore. It’s harder than I thought, but not with this dish!

Hope you enjoy it too!