more fish

We had Crunchy Yogurt "Fishsticks" last night and I have to say it's hands down my new favorite. Maybe not the best fish I've ever had, but easily my #1 pick coming out of my own kitchen. Sooo yummy.
So yummy in fact that the kids both ate their whole serving!!
And that is big news people, because aside from processed freezer fishsticks, my kids do not eat fish.
But they gobbled these up.

I had tilapia fillets and wanted to make them fishstickish, but tasty enough for us adults, so I was "fishing" around the internet for ideas and came across this one. Which was a spin off of one of PW's chicken recipes. And since we all know PW recipes are a pretty sure bet, I went for it.

I had four fillets and cut them each into fourths, trying to go for the fishstick feel. They were really more like mini fillets, but oh well.
I mixed up some plain yogurt (I just used all of what was left in my container which was about 2 cups), garlic (two cloves, minced), parsley (dried; just sprinkled til it looked good) and the juice of a lemon (actually a lemon and a half) and some salt and pepper.

I added the fish chunks, made sure they were well covered with the yogurt mixture and let it sit for a good hour. (my fish was still partially frozen so I let it sit out on the counter instead of in the fridge.)

Then I simply dredged the yogurty fish in plain Panko whole wheat breadcrumbs, pressing the crumbs on to coat. I put the breaded fish in a 9x13 cake pan sprayed with cooking spray and then put the teeniest pads of butter on top of each piece of fish and covered the whole thing with foil, putting it into the oven at 400°.
I baked mine for about 20 minutes and then removed the foil, baking for another 10 or so. (my oven is off kilter and I would guess in a correct oven that these would probably be good for 20 minutes total.) At that point they were done, but didn't look golden or all that crispy so I turned on the broiler real quick to just let them brown a tad. Beautiful!

These were absolutely the perfect breaded fish... golden crunchy on the outside and moist and flavorful on the inside. Ryan commented that it didn't even have a fishy aftertaste at all... just delicious. And my kitchen didn't smell like I was baking fish... it just smelled yummy!

I am so glad I tried this way of preparing tilapia; it's a fabulous way to use more of the plain, unflavored yogurt I've been buying and trying to incorporate into our recipes, and the whole family loved it. I think that's a first!!