Homemade Fish Sticks and Tartar Sauce

I recently started going to the Willy Street Co-op, which just opened 5 minutes from my house. The co-op features lots of locally sourced, and organic foods. As I was perusing the frozen food section, a box of delicious looking fish sticks jumped out at me. But, before I threw the box in my cart, I realized that fish sticks would be something I could easily prepare myself, and therefore, I could have much more control over what type of fish and breading. So instead of buying a box of prepared fish sticks, I bought 8 ounces of tilapia and set out to make my own fish sticks.

I stumbled upon sophistimom.com and her gorgeous photo of fish sticks. I figured her method would work well for fish sticks, so it is her recipe on which I have based mine.

The great thing I learned about this meal is that these little guys cook up real quick. So you can probably get this entire meal (fries and all) prepped and on the table in 30 minutes. If you're wondering about those fries on the plate, they're the Alexia brand Yukon Gold fries, cooked up for about 25 minutes in the oven. Delicious and a great time saver!

Serves 2
Ingredients:

• 8 oz tilapia filet (or other white meat such as cod, or halibut)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp lemon pepper
• 1/8 tsp paprika
• dash of cayenne
• salt
• pepper
• 1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• Tartar sauce (below)

Directions:

1. Prep the tilapia by cutting into 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch strips that are approximately 3-4 inches long.
2. On a plate, combine flour and salt. In a second bowl, lightly beat an egg. On a third plate, combine breadcrumbs, lemon pepper, paprika, cayenne and a generous pinch of salt.
3. Coat each fish stick in flour, then the egg, and then in the bread crumbs, making sure to coat all sides.
4. Heat oil in nonstick skillet. Cook fish sticks until golden brown on all sides.

Tartar Sauce:
Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 small pickles, finely chopped
• Dash of paprika or cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Mix everything together!