Mertzies Baked Pesto Tilapia Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Line an 11-17-inch baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.
• Mix milk and ranch dressing in a shallow bowl. Place flour in a separate shallow bowl; set aside.
• Whisk together bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, black pepper, celery salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, parsley, and basil in a bowl.
• Spray bread crumb mixture with cooking spray until damp, then whisk bread crumbs. Repeat spraying and whisking 3 more times to lightly moisten crumb mixture with cooking spray.
• Transfer crumb mixture to a large resealable plastic bag.
• Gently press tilapia fillets into the flour to coat, and shake off the excess flour.
• Dip the fillets into the ranch dressing mixture.
• Place all the fillets into the resealable plastic bag; seal bag and shake to coat fish with bread crumb mixture.
• Arrange tilapia on prepared baking sheet. Lightly spray the breaded fish with cooking spray.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the fish is easily flaked with a fork, 20 to 25 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place foil on a cookie sheet. Place fish on the foil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Top with pesto, tomatoes and then cheese (in order).
• Bake for 12-15 minutes or until fish flakes with fork.
• *Note: I don't care for pesto except in this recipe. To prevent wasting the rest of the pesto in the jar, I make one recipe for dinner and freeze the ingredients to have another day. Just place each of the ingredients (except salt & pepper) in its own quart-size freezer bag, then place all in a gallon-size freezer bag along with directions and freeze. When ready to make, just thaw completely and follow the above directions to prepare.

Steps:

• Gently combine the tomatoes, garlic and olive oil with a little salt and pepper if desired and roast in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes.
• Juice the lemon and mix SOME of the juice with the pesto, adding more if desired or needed keeping the pesto a nice spreadable consistency and not runny. (Thanks breezer mom!) Spread mixture on top of the fish which has been seasoned with a little more salt and pepper if desired.
• Cut the juiced lemon halves in half again so that you have two pieces of lemon to support each filet. Place a filet on top of two pieces of juiced lemon so that the fish is somewhat out of any liquid that accumulates, allowing it to roast rather than boil.
• Return to oven for about 10 minutes or until the fish is flaky and no longer opaque.
• Plate the fish along with the tomatoes and garlic and serve with more lemon wedges if desired.