Blackened Tilapia Salad

Out of the many things I love in life, I duly and truly love fish and salad. I ate at a place called Rubio's and ordered their blackened mahi-mahi salad, and loved it. So I decided to make my own blackened fish salad. The tilapia is soft and flaky, and keeps all the nice flavors of the spices. Top the salad off with a nice vinaigrette, or simply de-glaze the pan with wine and oil to drizzle over the salad--delish!

Blackened Tilapia Salad

 

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon celery salt, or to taste

 

4 tilapia fillets

1 lemon, cut into wedges

olive oil

DIRECTIONS: 

In a small bowl, mix together all the spices. Coat the fillets with the spice mixture, and allow to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Heat a skillet over high heat. Add olive oil, and heat until it is almost smoking. Place fillets in the pan. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until fish is opaque and can be flaked with a fork. Remove fillets from pan and slice. Place fillets on a bed of salad greens and various vegetables. Pour pan juices over salad, and squeeze lemon juice all over. For a tasty dressing, de-glaze the pan with wine and olive oil, and simply pour over salad.

Yummy tip: corn is so delicious in salad--place either fresh or frozen corn in the same pan, and throw in some thyme, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper with water or oil. Cook until tender. Throw it on the salad...yum.

Another yummy tip: these blackened tilapia fillets are not only scrumptious on salad, but on a sandwich too! The bread will soak up all the yummy flavors of the pan juices. A kaiser roll  or white bread is recommended.