A healthy yet delicious 30 minute meal

Whether your looking for a good diet meal or simply just looking for a delicious quick dinner this is by far my favorite seafood meal. Blackened tilapia, stir fried cabbage, and sautéed imitation crab. I promise you; this one is really great and its a recipe my mom found on a diet she was on about 10 or so years ago, so it is a healthy meal. Being raised to try new things I had no hesitation at all about trying this the first time my mom cooked it. I absolutely fell in love with this recipe and I recommend it to anyone to try at least once. Not a sea food person; I completely understand, my wife wasn’t either until she tried this one. Now it is one of her favorite meals. She begs me to cook it all the time and literally grins ear to ear when I start pulling out the skillets on this one.

So what will you need? It’s pretty simple. Actually all you need is; tilapia fillets (one or two per person), a head of cabbage, a pack or two of imitation crab meat, half a stick of butter, 3-6 cloves of garlic, old bay seasoning, blackened seasoning, and your choice of olive, vegetable, or canola oil, two large skillets and a small to medium skillet.

First I take my two large skillets and put just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan (thats all you really need) and place on the stove over medium high heat. Then I go ahead and season my fillets generously with blackened seasoning on both sides. I use Zatarain’s blackened seasoning but any will do, then set the fillets aside. I then quarter my head of cabbage then slice each quarter in about 1/2” to 1” slices, coat it well with the blackened seasoning and toss in the heated oil. While the cabbage is cooking I mince 6 cloves of garlic. I’m a garlic lover so I use a little extra but you can use anywhere from 3-6 cloves. After the cabbage has cooked roughly 8-10 min in the small/medium skillet I start melting a half of a stick of butter (4 tbsp) over medium high heat. When fully melted I add my crab meat and garlic and sprinkle with Old Bay and stir occasionally.

After about 15 min of cooking the cabbage I turn the heat down to low (when the core starts getting tender). Then I start my fish in the last large heated skillet cooking roughly 3-4 minutes per side depending on the size of the fillets. The fillets are done when golden brown on both sides and meat is white in the middle. The cabbage is done when the pieces of core are soft and tender when poked with a fork. Technically the imitation crab is already precooked and all you really need to do is heat it up. I prefer to cook it until the garlic bits are golden brown and the outer layer of crab is slightly brown and crisp. Thats it simple enough for this delicious meal huh? Preparation and all, this one only takes about 30-45 minutes.

However this fish goes well with a variety of different vegetables. The meal as a whole also is paired nicely with warm rolls, red lobster box mix biscuits or of course the classic go to bread with seafood hush puppies. This meal has been a winner at my family dinner table for years now, and I see no near future potential of it loosing its seat. It’s really just that good of a meal, and a very quick simple meal to cook. Everyone I have convinced to try it has loved it and has asked for the recipe to try themselves.

My wife and I are real big on left overs whether we have them for dinner the following night or take them to work for lunch to keep us from wasting our hard earned money in the vending machines. With this meal we have to force ourselves to remember to save some left overs. In fact it’s so good, writing this article and eating this delicious meal tonight really has me considering the need for a future article on portion control. Even if you think you don’t love sea food I recommend everyone try this one at least once. I highly doubt that you will regret it.