Fishy Friday: Pecan-Crusted Tilapia with Brandy Butter Sauce

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

We are trying to eat more fish, like many Americans, and we want to have some variety in how we eat it. This nutty, baked mild white fish recipe is one of the ways we’re doing that.

If you haven’t tried tilapia, this recipe is one way to eat it. Tilapia is a mild white freshwater fish. It is the fourth most consumed fish in the U.S. We sometimes eat it baked with an olive oil and tarragon rub for a simple and easy dinner. This pecan-crusted recipe is a bit more time-consuming but not by much. This recipe is really easy but a bit messy. However, DH thinks the mess is worth it, and he’s the one who does the clean-up.

Pecan-Crusted Tilapia (serves 4)

½ cup all-purpose flour, more as needed

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup crushed pecans

3 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary (see NOTE)

1 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

16 ounces tilapia fillets

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Mix pecans, rosemary, salt, and black pepper in a shallow dish.

On separate shallow plates, place flour, beaten eggs, and pecan mixture.

Dip tilapia fillets in flour and shake off excess; dip fish into beaten egg, then into seasoned pecans, lightly pressing pecan coating onto fish.

Arrange fillets on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven until fish flakes easily with a fork, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with Brandy Butter Sauce.

Brandy Butter Sauce (serves 4)

2 tablespoons butter

2 ounces brandy

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Melt butter over medium low heat.

Add Worcestershire sauce and brandy. Whisk to blend thoroughly.

Cook sauce for three minutes then spoon over pecan-crusted tilapia.

NOTE: You can season this dish with herbs or spices other than rosemary. Tarragon, fennel, dill, oregano, basil and others go well with fish. Changing seasonings make the same dish seem like a different one!

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

“I think this is really good. What did you think of it?” Oh, goody! Another way I can serve fish. I’m always on the lookout.