Blackened Tilapia Salad

I never thought one of my favorite recipes on the blog would be a salad.  That just doesn't make sense.  Don't like salad?  Don't think about it that way!  Think of it as a fish taco with extra lettuce and less tortilla.  Much less.  (There's no tortilla. Shhh!)

This is my first time making blackened tilapia or any blackened meat.  You could substitute another meat but I love how the edges of the fish get crispy in the pan.  It gets a pretty heavy coating of Old Bay seasoning making it fairly spicy which perfectly contrasts with the rest of the salad.

I don't know what I'm doing making this summery salad this time of year when I should be baking cookies and other Christmassy things.  I was browsing the blog for recipes for a holiday recipe roundup post for you but I basically came up with nothing.  There's cranberry sauce and spiced fig bars but that's about it.  I need to fix that so I can put something together next year.

Have any of you with celiac disease or gluten intolerance ever had a gluten nightmare?  Those who have know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.  I had one two nights in a row!  The first one, my sister and I wanted to split a burger at the movie theater which makes no sense because she eats a pescatarian diet and I don't even think the movie theater has burgers.  They definitely don't have gluten free buns!  Anyways, she kept bothering me over and over about not forgetting to ask for mayo that I completely spaced on asking for a gluten free bun.  I ate half of it before I realized what happened, then completely panicked.  Last nights dream, I don't completely remember what happened but I accidentally ate a Twizzler.  And panicked.  I don't even like Twizzlers but I do like burgers so I'm kind of angry at myself for panicking in my dream instead of enjoying it.  You know it's a bad nightmare when your alarm wakes you up at 4:50 am and are completely overjoyed to be woken up.

Blackened Tilapia Salad

• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 6 mins
• Total Time: 21 mins
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Ingredients

• 4 tilapia fillets
• 3 Tbsp lard or butter, divided
• 3 tsp Old Bay seasoning
• 6 C (1 heart) romaine lettuce, chopped
• ¼ head red cabbage, chopped
• ½ C cilantro
• 2 avocado, sliced
• zest from 2 limes, optional
• 8 Tbsp Tessemae's Lemon Chesapeake dressing

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Instructions

1. In a large salad bowl, toss together the romaine, cabbage, and cilantro.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of the fat and thoroughly coat the fillets in fat. Generously sprinkle both sides of the fillets with the seasoning. It should be more heavily seasoned than you usually season fish.
3. Melt the other tablespoon of fat in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When that is hot, fry the tilapia fillets in the skillet for about 3 minutes per side, or until somewhat blackened and fish is fully cooked. Place fish on a paper towel to catch excess fat. Garnish with lime zest.
4. Serve the salad with sliced tilapia and sliced avocado on top, then drizzle with the salad dressing.