Super-easy Cajun pan-seared tilapia

I love fish. I love catching fish, cooking fish, and eating fish! Yesterday I made a pan-seared tilapia with roast potatoes and a side of fresh greens. It was incredibly easy, and affordable.

The following ingredients serve 2 people, but I bought a pack of tilapia that serves 5. If you buy a pack of tilapia and you are only planning to use part of it, then don't thaw the whole pack! You are not supposed to re-freeze fish (or any meats), so just thaw what you need and leave the rest in the freezer for future use.

For dinner with my sister yesterday, I used:

1 pack of frozen tilapia filets: $6.99 for a pack of 5 ($1.40 for each person)
a small dollop of oil: let's say $0.05
4 potatoes from my sack: about $0.25 worth
mixed greens: about $2.50 for a pack (we have leftovers)
salt
black pepper
paprika
cayenne pepper
2 small cloves of garlic

TOTAL: $9.79 to serve 5; $1.96 per person.



Instructions:

Potatoes:

I have a million different ways of doing roast potatoes, but this is what I did yesterday:

Wash and peel potatoes. Chop into 1-inch chunks. Cover with a small amount of olive oil, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Crush or dice garlic and throw into mix. Make sure spices have entirely covered the potatoes.

Bake uncovered in oven at 425˚F until golden brown. This is usually 35 minutes (so do this before starting on the tilapia)

Fish:

Get a bowl and mix the salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne pepper together. Taste it. See if you like the spice-to-salt ratio.

Put the frozen tilapia in a plate or tray, and pat dry with a clean paper towel. Cover the fish with the spice mix on all sides.

You can either put the fish in the refrigerator to thaw (preferable), or (if you have no time), you can probably cook it straight from frozen (just turn down the heat so you don't have it burnt on the outside and frozen on the inside). Tilapia is fully cooked when it is white and flakes easily.

Lightly coat the bottom of the frying pan with cooking oil and turn to medium-high heat. Add the fish to the pan and sear on medium heat. Don't flip the fish over and over again, because it will break apart. It should take about 3 minutes on either side to cook.

Add your side salad of your preference. I used a simple mixed green with a light homemade vinaigrette (bit of oil and vinegar, pinch of salt and pepper).

NOTE: You can powder the tilapia with a bit of white flour right before you add the spices. This is a good idea as it helps make a nice crust for the seared fish. But you can absolutely do this recipe without if you don't have flour on hand.

Enjoy! :-)