Top | Savory
Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia w/ Avocado Cream
(recipe, Anna Conley)
Introduction
While I've seen it done a thousand times, I've never used cornmeal to bread anything before. I figured the cornmeal would add a really great extra crunchy texture to the breading (which it did) but what caught me off guard was how it added a layer of sweetness as well. It was crunchy, crispy, sweet (and with a good pinch of salt to balance it all out at the end) perfectly salty too! So just like I said earlier, this fish was "YUM SCRUM".
http://www.danispies.com/archives/seafood/post_1.php
Ingredients
- 1 lb. of tilapia (4-6 filets)
- 2 eggwhites
- 1 cup of ground cornmeal
- 1 Tbsp. of paprika
- ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 avocado
- 2 Tbsp. plain Greek style yogurt
- Juice of half a lime
- Pinch of salt
Steps
- Peel and pit the avocado before chopping into chunky pieces. Place the avocado in a mini food processor along with the yogurt, limejuice, and salt.
- Blend everything together until you have a nice creamy sauce. Feel free to play with the texture by adding more or less yogurt and/or a bit of milk or water. Set aside until ready to serve.
- Combine the cornmeal, paprika, and cayenne pepper in a wide shallow dish or bowl. Place your egg whites in another bowl with similar characteristics.
- Season each tilapia fillet with salt and pepper. Dip seasoned fillet into the egg whites and then dredge it in the cornmeal mixture. Place on a rimmed baking sheet until ready to cook.
- Once you have all of your tilapia seasoned and coated heat one teaspoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over a medium high heat.
- Right before placing the tilapia into the hot pan, lightly mist each one with a bit of cooking spray (this will ensure even browning without having to add too much oil into the pan) and place in pan “sprayed-side” down.
- Mist the opposite side of the fillets while they are cooking and after a bout two minutes flip the fish and cook for another two minutes or so. You are looking for the fish to just cook through while having a nice crispy, browned exterior.
- Hit each one with a pinch of salt when they are done and top with a tablespoon of Avocado Cream. Enjoy!