5:30 Challenge: Pecan-crusted snapper

Pecan-Crusted Snapper

To make the meal:

Potatoes Anna

Tomato-cucumber salad

This recipe will give you one more reason to serve fish for dinner. Snapper fillets cook in minutes, and the pecan/bread crumb mixture provides a crunchy crust while protecting the delicate fish. The combination of flour, buttermilk and crumbs would work just as well for boneless chicken or pork cutlets.

Potatoes Anna cooks quickly because the potatoes are so thinly sliced. Before you begin preparing the fish, wash and thinly slice a few white potatoes. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small heavy skillet, and arrange the potato slices in a circle around the circumference of the pan. Fill in the middle, and then sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Add the remainder of the potato slices on top, season again and cover the pan with a tight fitting lid. When the fish goes into its pan, uncover the potatoes and raise the heat to allow the bottom to crisp.

The fish and potatoes should be done about the same time. Flip the potatoes out onto a plate so the bottom is on top showing off the pretty pattern.

Pecan-Crusted Snapper

Hands on: 20 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans

4 (6-ounce) snapper fillets

Put flour in a shallow dish. Pour buttermilk into a medium bowl. Combine bread crumbs, pecans, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in another shallow dish.

Dredge both sides of one fillet in flour, dip in buttermilk and then dip into the bread crumb mixture, lightly covering both sides. Set fillet on a plate and repeat procedure with remaining fillets.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add fillets; cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Do not crowd skillet, cooking fish in batches if necessary. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Per serving: 312 calories (percent of calories from fat, 27), 38 grams protein, 16 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 9 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 64 milligrams cholesterol, 523 milligrams sodium.

Take the 5:30 Challenge. If you have a great-tasting main-dish recipe that uses no more than five ingredients and can be made in 30 minutes or less, tell us. (Salt, pepper, water and oil for greasing a pan don’t need to be included in the ingredients.) You can also suggest a side dish if it can be made within the same time. Send recipes to 5:30 Challenge, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sixth Floor, 233 Perimeter Center Parkway N.E., Atlanta, GA 30346. E-mail fivethirty@ajc.com.