Oven-Baked Cajun Tilapia

On Sunday a few friends and I headed to Madison Square Mark't Eats, which is going on until June 3rd. If you have not had a chance to check it out, I would highly recommend you visit this awesome food mecca, plus the cuuute workers (especially at Roberta's) aren't too hard on the eyes. Some friends of mine are running a cookie stand called Cookie Panache, so if you do end up visiting make sure to show them some support...the coconut caramel cookie was our favorite!

Anyway, I brought this all up because one of the stands "Spice and Tease" (yeah, they definitely got me with their name) had a huuuge selection of spices that my fellow foodie friends and I could not resist. I bought some spices and since the owner loved us so much he decided to throw in free samples- funny enough he happened to throw in "Herbs de Provence"- yes! another reference to my upcoming trip to France (woooo!). Thus, I was inspired by our spice trip to make a simple piece of baked fish to showcase the wonderful flavors the spices had to offer.

Ingredients:

2 pieces Tilapia filet
2-3 tbsp. Cajun spice
2 tbsp. Herbs de Provence
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper (If available to you, use lemon peppercorns from Trader Joe's)
1 lemon, sliced horizontally

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Blot fish with a paper towel to wipe off any excess water. Then, rub in the Cajun spice and Herbs de Provence on both sides of the fish, use amounts generous enough to cover both sides. Sprinkle both sides with some garlic powder, salt and pepper (Here, I used Lemon Peppercorns from Trader Joe's). Then, drizzle the olive oil on top of the fish, cover with lemon slices and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, flipping the fish after 10 minutes. This deliciously juicy fish would be great over a salad, in a sandwich or even eaten plain...it is really melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

As seen below, I paired my fish with a toasted quinoa salad that I made with ingredients I already had in my refrigerator- roasted corn, avocado, and sauteed red onion.

Serves 2. Enjoy!