Smothered Fish Looks Gross, But...

I try as hard as I can to be as creative in the kitchen as possible, often times working off of ideas of this dish or that dish that I can experiment with a combination of and create a whole new dish that is entirely my own.

For this one I am taking into consideration the idea of chicken cordon bleu, and a smothered chicken dish of sorts, and looked for a new way to cook up some of one of my favorite cheaper fishes to make.

Tilapia.

I buy my tilapia in bulk, so I am going to use about 6 pieces of fish for this dish. Since I buy my fish frozen, I have to thaw it. I just usually fill a large Dutch oven with water and place the fish in there for a spell to thaw.

What you will need to make this dish:

• Greased 9x12 casserole baking dish

• 6 pieces of tilapia

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup

• 1 can of mushroom stems and pieces, drained (you can use fresh if you want)

• 1 large onion, diced

• 6 slices of ham lunch meat

• 6 slices of Swiss cheese

• Seasonings

Simply grease your baking dish, I usually just cheat and use a can of baking spray. Place the fish evenly into the baking dish. I seasoned the fish with a little bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dill weed, with a little sprinkling of some grated parmesan cheese to boot for good measure. I also use a "no salt" seasoning that is pretty good that I get from the Dollar Tree. Has lots of goodies in there. Trust me. But you can season your fish anyway you like.

If anyone needs a toilet yet, feel free. I am not against anyone having to hang their heads in the bowl if this recipe is beginning to want you to go there. But trust me, while many of my recipes may not sound good, they actually are good. You just have to think outside the box a little bit to get there.

This is not the Cooking Channel, and if this were an episode of "Chopped," they may have already told me to pack up my knives and leave. But I am going to go forward anyway, for whatever it is worth, and to the spoiled stomachs of my dear readers.

I put the onions on first on top of the seasoned fish, then the slices of ham, then the slices of Swiss cheese. Smother it in the cream of mushroom soup, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, covered with tin foil, for about 45 minutes to an hour.

As I said, the images my not do the dish any justice, and I will say that often times the raw product looks much worse than what the actual finished product tastes like. So you have to have an open mind, especially when it comes to dishes and recipes that do not come out of a book or something that you Google.

For a side we will have some Hawaiian bread stuffing we got from Aldi. It should be good. It's just stuffing made with sweet Hawaiian bread. And I will likely make some peas to go along with it as well.

But of course you can have whatever sides you would prefer with this dish. Again, this is just a play on chicken cordon bleu and smothered chicken. So, while it may still have a puke factor, the idea is still pretty solid on its merits, and so the dish should taste very good despite its raw appearance.

Lead image by Porwest.