Ok, so here’s my thought process on this one:
I noticed that I had a package of frozen tilapia in my freezer, and I decided it was time to get rid of it. The only other time I had cooked with frozen tilapia, I baked it and turned it into a filling for tacos. That was a great meal, but I didn’t want to do that this time. (That may or may not have anything to do with Rick’s frustration with my many variations of tacos.)
So anyway, I decided to look and see what other tilapia recipes I could find, and believe it or not, I was NOT specifically looking for a crockpot recipe. These things just fall in my hands, I tell you! But given that the Crockpot Lady is the reason why I fell in love with my crockpot (and therefore my love of cooking), I couldn’t turn this recipe down.
So that’s how I wound up making this recipe. I was worried that Rick would think I was weird and/or gross for cooking tilapia in the crockpot, so I kind of didn’t tell him until the meal was almost done cooking. He didn’t seem concerned, though. This is one of those recipes where you’re basically just using your crockpot as an oven without having to heat up the whole kitchen.
When I took the foil packets out of the crockpot and (CAREFULLY– I have had a steam burn before and they are not pretty) opened them, the smell was just amazing. And trust me, they tasted great, too. I liked these filets much better than when I baked them, so I think I’ll use this foil-packet method from now on.
Foil-Packet Parmesan Tilapia
4 tilapia filets, thawed
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded cheese (the Crockpot Lady recommends shredded Parmesan, so that’s what I went with. She has also used cheddar)
juice of 2 lemons
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
pinch of salt and pepper
Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients except for the fish.
Lay out four equal sized pieces of foil and spray them a bit with cooking spray. Place a piece of fish on each slice of foil, and rub the sauce mixture over both sides of each piece of fish.
Fold the foil together so that it forms a little packet. Put all the packets into the crockpot. Cook on high for 2 hours, then check the fish to see if it’s done. The fish should flake easily with a fork. (Mine was perfect after 2 hours.)
Crockpot Tuesdays 