Pan-Seared Tilapia with Chile Lime Butter

For my birthday dinner, I really wanted to cook something new.  I know that it sounds funny to say that because most people want to go out on their birthdays (and trust me, we are going out this weekend to one of my favorite restaurants, The Boathouse on Isle of Palms.  Rick had a training today so I was searching the internet and sending him recipes for us to try.  When I found this one on epicurious.com, I found the winner!  I decided, too, that I wanted to do some sort of app to go with it so I opted to dig out a shrimp recipe that I'd made a while back for Thai Night for Shrimp Rolls.  I accidentally took the tails off of them this time around so that they were more like spring rolls or egg rolls.  We liked 'em better that way actually!   Rick has decided that these need to be added to our favorite list!

The tilapia turned out really good though I did put too much lime juice in the butter (I wasn't paying attention and added the juice from two limes....in the recipe, I opted to write in less).  I didn't have a shallot so I subbed a We had them with our favorite green beans with almonds as the side.  Here's what I did...

Pan-Seared Tilapia with Chile Lime Butter

Ingredients

For chile lime butter

• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 2cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lime zest
•  Juice from 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon minced jalapeno
• 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce

For fish

• 2 pieces skinless tilapia fillets (1 per person)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons oil (I have recently started using Smart Balance oil unless I'm using extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 egg
• Panko bread crumbs

Directions

For the lime butter

Stir together all ingredients in a bowl.

For fish:

Beat egg in a small bowl and coat fish with it.  Next, add bread crumbs to a plate and then coat fish evenly.  Place on another plate.  Heat oil in a non-stick skillet and add fish.  Saute fish until golden and turn once.  Remove from skillet and plate.  Add a dollop of butter to fish and serve.

Enjoy!