Recipe: Quick and Tasty Tilapia

I've been making this dish for years.  So easy to prep and so delicious, this is a great dish for people to get their feet wet with cooking fish.  Tilapia is so mild and versatile, you can put your favorite flavor or seasoning on it and that's what it will taste like.  Before posting this, I combed the internet to find the original recipe, because I know I did not come up with it.  Here it is, a Paula Deen recipe from Food Network.  See?  Not every recipe from Paula Deen is bad for you.  This one doesn't even have butter in it!  Y'all know I love me some Paula Deen, and I've already answered the haters regarding her diabetes.

This tilapia recipe is simple.  You marinate your fillets in oil (she uses olive oil but since I am allergic to that, I just use canola), orange zest, orange juice, grated fresh ginger, tabasco sauce, salt and pepper for an hour and then grill.  I buy the bags of frozen, individually-wrapped tilapia fillets form Wegmans or Costco and they are pretty thin.  So I only need to cook them 3 minutes a side.  Paula's directions are longer but she uses thicker filets.

Tonight, I used my indoor, electric panini press/grill/griddle.  I got this for Christmas 2010 and used it only once between then and April of this year.  But in the last 2 weeks I have used it 5 times and I love it!  Anywho, since I lowered the top onto the fish, cooking it like it was in a George Foreman grill, it was done in 3 minutes flat; no need to turn over.  I've cooked it on the gas grill before, but not directly on the grate; I line the grate with foil and cook it on that.  No grill marks, but it still absorbs the grill flavor.  I've never made the Mango Coconut Rise she serves it with; just plain rice and a veg.  But I will have to try her rice over the Summer.  Enjoy!