Blackened Fish - New Orleans Cajun EASY How To Post with LOTS of Photo Tips

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This is my very favorite way to prepare fish!

It is also just about the simplest way to cook ever.  The fish is actually poached in HOT seasoned Butter.  The seasoning is called Blackening seasoning of you look for it in the grocery store.  But any Cajun spice mix will work as well (with slightly different tastes).  The black term comes from the spices actually charing, turning to a black pepper, making those pepper  spices POP.

This post is more of a cooking technique than a recipe post.  All you need is butter, a Cajun spice mix and a piece of thin fish (like Tilapia).

I am a huge fan of New Orleans, New Orleans cooking, Cajun and Creole and all things Big Easy.  There are plenty of pre-mixed store bought Cajun spices.  Paul Prudhomme makes one of the best that is available at most grocery stores.  If you only make Cajun cooking a few times a year, buying a tube of his spice mix once a year will work fine for you.

Me, I like to mix my own spices.  It is cheaper and I get to control the amount of salt and heat.  I call my mix, "Big Easy in a Jar".  You can find the formula for the mix by clicking the blue letters or the photo to the right.

OK, as I said this is more of a technique than a recipe.  All you need is ...

Blackened Tilapia

Ingredients

4 TBS Butter
4 Half TBS (that's 2 TBS, 1/2 TBS per fish fillet)
4 Tilapia Fish Fillets

Cooking Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat..
2. Add the spice mix and stir to combine.
3. Continue to heat the butter/spices until the mix just starts to smoke.  This is the only real tricky part as you want the spices cooking, but you do not want them to burn.  Once they start to gently smoke, add the fish fillets and turn the heat down to medium.
4. Wait 2 Minutes and then flip
5. Cook for another 2 minutes and the fish is done!
6. Serve WARM and ENJOY!

laissez les bons temps rouler... 

As they say in the Crescent City...

 Let the Good Times Roll... Indeed

Tilapia is a wonderful fish ... Taste and cheap!  Every store from Aldi to Kroger to the cheap place in St Thomas sells big bags of single fillets, individually sealed and perfect for a quick lunch...

And this recipe is quick... Freezer to thawed in the microwave to 4 minutes in the frying pan and served... total time, just a shade over 5 minutes...

While the fish is thawing ... BTW, if you plan ahead, instead of microwave, put a fillet (still sealed in plastic) in a pan of warm water for 30 minutes and it will be thawed. OK, back to the how to... While the fish is thawing in the microwave, take an aluminum non stick pan and melt one TBS butter for each fillet you are making...

I served these bad boys up with a fresh made Kicked Up Cajun Style Tarter Sauce (Easy to make, see previous post) and a really wonderfully creamy sweet Baked Parmesan Polenta with a Garlic Basil Pesto...

One FANTASTIC MEAL!