Jalapeno Crusted Tilapia

Wouldn't you agree that if something smells good and looks good, that it should taste good too?  Ok, so it's not like this fish was terrible or that it even tasted bad, it's just that it was far too bland for Chris and I.  Don't get me wrong, it had the great flavor and kick that only jalapenos can bring to a dish (as Chris says: "Jalapeno's bring such joy to food!"), but it didn't have much flavor beyond that.  I did change the recipe just a little bit, but I don't think changing what I did should have made the dish bland.  I found the original recipe on Spark Recipe and thought it sounded so good, so needless to say I was a bit disappointed when I finally tasted it.  I really didn't even want to post this recipe just due to the blandness of it, but Chris was quick to encourage me to go ahead and do it.  He reminded me that this is a journey, MY journey, and good or bad, that's what this blog is suppose to be about.  So with much reluctance, I will post the recipe as I made it Thursday night.  After the recipe, I will write out a few suggestions on how to maybe make it a bit more flavorful.

Jalapeno Crusted Tilapia
Adapted from Spark People user Jetsers
Ingredients:
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (you can use plain dry bread crumbs)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced
2 Tbls shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp olive oil
4 Tilapia fillets
lime juice
garlic salt

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Mix the first 9 ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Place fillets in prepared dish.  Drizzle with lime juice and then sprinkle with garlic salt.  Apply the panko mixture to the top of each fillet.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.  Serve.

Obviously, if you don't like spicy foods, this dish is not for you to even try.  Chris and I are BIG spicy food lovers, so the heat was not the issue here.  Blandness was an issue, however.  So how would I try to solve the blandness issue?  First, I recommend cutting back at least one tablespoon of the panko and adding one additional tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese.  Second, I would double the amount of onion powder and dried basil.  Third, I would use 1-2 garlic cloves, minced, in place of the garlic powder.  This should help give the fish a bit more flavor. 

Ciao!