recipe: porchini mushroom salmon

I don’t really know what inspired this meal, it just kind of came together by accident. I was lucky to find fresh caught salmon for this, as opposed to the usual farm raised fish. Combine that with fresh spinach and mushrooms and it really did come together nicely. I realized after I finished eating it, it was one of those meals I really should have taken notes on what I was doing. A really good sized fry pan will allow you to actually cook the whole thing in one pace rather than having to dirty a bunch of dishes. Don’t feel obligated to follow the directions exactly though, because it would be equally as well to serve the elements separate too.

Salmon fillet
porchini mushrooms
spinach
shallot
garlic
black pepper
large skillet

Dice the mushrooms, garlic and shallot and cut the spinach
Place the salmon fillet skin down in the skillet and begin to cook it over medium heat
Season the top of the fish with black pepper
Once the fish begins to cook place the veggies on either side of the fish in the skillet and season the veggies with black pepper
Allow the spinach to wilt and the mushrooms to reduce in size (right to the point of browning)
If necessary, cover the frying pan to help combine flavors and speed cooking, also (such as using a non-stick pan) add a little bit of oil to prevent sticking
Once the veggies are reduced and the fish is cooked through and its skin crispy, remove from heat.

I served by plating the fish and then topping the fillet with the veggies, the favors came together surprisingly well and offered different mouth textures during each bite rather than eating the veggies and fish separately. As stated earlier though, they can easily be done separately.

recipe: garlic-tarragon flounder

Fancy this, back-to-back recipe posts. After returning from a long, exhausting hike up north, there wasn’t much energy left to cook and this is a super easy, super quick meal. Any white fish will work with this, flounder was just how I came up with the basic recipe and it is still my preference for cooking it. It is important when working with a delicate tasting fish like flounder not to go too heavy on the complimenting flavors, however, feel free to get a little more potent with it if you opt for cod or other more bold white fish. As for the peas, I highly suggest the frozen ones over canned, or even really, fresh. Believe it or not, they seem to keep that sweet flavor much better when flash frozen than when sent to the market “fresh” – if you have to use canned, be forewarned, there’s no cooking, just re-heating so be careful timing things.

flounder fillets
butter
garlic
shallot
tarragon
white wine
black pepper
skillet
peas (frozen)
small pot
metal collenar or steamer insert

Finely chop the garlic and most of the shallot cloves, coarser chop and reserve the rest of the shallot
Begin boiling water in the small pot
Place the finely chopped in a skillet with a small pad of butter and melt over low heat allowing butter to melt and the flavors of the garlic and shallot to combine
Place the peas and the shallot in the collenar
Pepper one side of the fillet, place in the skillet, pepper the other side of the fillet
Place the collenar over the boiling water and begin to steam the peans and shallot
Turn the fillet only once during the cooking to cook through, do not allow the garlic / shallots to burn!
Remove the fillet from skillet and set aside
Deglaze the skillet with white wine
Add the chopped fresh tarragon to the skillet
Add additional butter as necessary to achieve consistency while reducing the liquid by at least half
Remove the peas and shallots from the steamer when the peas are warmed / cooked through and the shallots are soft
Serve the fillets with the sauce over the top, peas on the side… I found it a nice touch of flavor to include few tarragon leaves with the peas

recipe: blackened bluefish

When I was younger I used to go bluefishing off the Jersey shore all the time. Blues are an amazing fish, but anyone with a color aversion might avoid them because raw, they live up to their name. We used to fish for two kinds… the traditional lunker (generic term for any big ol’ fish) and what was called sandwich blues. See, blues will eat almost anything and because of their voracious appetites they ingest a lot of “stuff.” The general rule of thumb is, if you plan on eating them, take home the smallest of the slot lengths or the smallest overall fish in general because they had the least amount of time to eat junk. I have many fond memories of bringing home way too many filets from each trip for my mom’s freezer.

I’ve always been a big fan of blackened fish and it is among my favorite ways to enjoy Blues (next to grilling them, where they are amazing too). It is one of the single fastest ways too cook fish, which generally, cooks pretty fast to begin with. Do it right and you get a spicy, crispy exterior with a super moist and flaky fish, the fish will not burn, the outside will not “char” in the traditional sense like if you over-toasted a piece of bread. In the case of blues, it is completely your call if you want to remove the skin of the filet. If you scale it lightly the skin is edible and grilled, that is always the way to go, however blackened you can go either way. This recipe, I leave the skin on and only go heavy with the blackening spice on one side of the fish, since the skin adds to the texture and they were really thin filets so I wanted to keep them with the skin. I go skin side up first because i actually find I can control the sear on the flesh side better when it goes down first, especially on thinner filets. By the way, any meatier fish like catfish, redfish, halibut, stripped bass, swordfish, tuna, mahi mahi, etc work well with blackening, though I’ve learned with being careful too with other fish like tilapia.

The blackening seasoning is something I made at home myself with ground cayanne and black pepper, onion and gariic powder, paprika, dried thyme, dried finely crushed rosemary, cumin, and a touch sea salt

Bluefish
Blackening seasoning
cast iron skillet
butter

butternut squash (frozen cubed, thawed)
onion
garlic
red pepper flakes
black pepper
cilantro
frying pan

Heat the skillet over a high flame
Coat the bluefish, both sides, with blackening seasoning, concentrating heavily on the flesh side
Dice the onion and garlic
Add the onion and garlic to the frying pan and saute over medium heat
Add the butternut squash to the frying pan and season with black pepper, red pepper flakes and dried cilantro flakes
Add the bluefish to the skillet skin side up first and sear for 1 minute or until it appears to be about 1/3 to 1/2 cooked (blues turn color from blue to white as they cook.
While the bluefish sears toss the butternut squash
Flip the bluefish and cook the skin side of the blue until the skin is crispy and the fish cooked through
Serve

recipe: Tuna ai linguine

I recently returned from Firenze, Tuscana, Italia. As you may know, I am very partial to Delta (Cajun, Creole), Iberian (Portuguese, Spanish) and Southwestern (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico) styles of cooking, but I must admit, my culinary heart is still with the true heirs in France and Italy. I do carry a bit of disdain for Italian-American cooking and as flawed as it may be loving other recreations of recipes in the Americas to dislike the bastardization that occurred with Italy’s beautiful simplicity upon being rendered to the American palette. It is a shame because the recipes were, just, so clean and fresh and even when there were spices the natural flavors of the root ingredients takes hold.

I came home to a somewhat empty fridge so a quick trip to the store and a few lucky finds later and I had a meal in mind, inspired by the food I am surely going to miss for the next several weeks until I re-adjust my tongue. I’ve actually done variants of this recipe using sun dried tomatoes and other fish and different herbal combination but this was the softest and simplest way I could prepare it with what I could find quick including fresh pasta (always nice to get and not have to make!).

tuna steak
olive oil
cherry tomato
shallot
basil
garlic
celery leaves
red pepper flakes
house seasoning

Split the garlic cloves and place them in the oil with the red pepper flakes and allow to set (for a few minutes to a few days depending on what you have)
Add the tuna steak to the oil in a holding pan so it covers no more than 1/3 of the tuna and allow to set (no less that a few minutes no more than 20 minutes) and be sure to flip it at least once at your half way mark
Roast the tomato in the broiler (or in a cast iron skillet) until the outsides begin to char evenly all the way around. Do the same with the shallot and garlic if you so choose as well.
Slice the tomato into halves or quarters, finely dice the shallot and garlic.
Combine the roasted tomato, shallot and garlic with olive oil to create a base with some red pepper flakes and allow to meld

Timing is key from here on out as the fish will take the same amount of time to sear rare to medium rare as the fresh linguine will take to boil. The fish will need the same time to set as the pasta will to drain and cool.

Salt the pasta water (if you are using dry, the pasta may be salted enough to not need this, and, they will require longer cooking) and bring to a boil.
Add the pasta
Set the tuna steak in the hot skillet and sear the first side
Dredge the pasta to ensure equal cooking and separate the strands
Flip the tuna as the sear moves up the side of the steak showing the level of cooked
Pull the pasta from the heat and drain
Add the chopped celery leaves and parsley leaves to the sauce of olive oil, garlic, shallot and cherry tomato
Add the drained pasta and toss with sauce described above.
Pull the tuna from the heat and allow to set

Serve one of two ways… either with the pasta on the plate and a tuna steak offset with it, or family style with the pasta in a deep large dish that is inset with the oil sauce soaking the pasta and a softly fork flaked version of a or several steaks over the dish.

recipe: the inexpensive one skillet dish

So, in this crappy economy, I am as conscience as ever as to how much things cost. I’ve been cooking on a sublimely tight budget for many years on some tight time lines. I am a strong believer you can cook inexpensively and healthy and quickly given the right understanding. This meal as noted costs about $12 and for a single person would feed them about 3-4 meals or a small family for a night, it cooks in about 30-40 minutes total (prep to table) and is a balance of flavors with healthy elements. The origins of this meal were actually to prove a point to two friends, one who claimed to hate spinach (and other dark leafy greens, where I used collards this time) and another who had a disdain for seafood. Both adored the final version (and both also helped inspire previously variants of a previously noted Mac & Cheese variant also using these elements)

There are plenty of ways to recreate this base dish, including substituting the tuna with ground meat (or I’ve used flounder, cod, catfish and tilapia at different times or even veggie crumble), the collard with other veggies (often, I do a version with mixed frozen veggies, other dark leafy greens also work too), the rice with pasta, etc. The base veggies (onion, celery, peppers as the trinity can be done as the miraquiox replacing the peppers with carrots, shredded work best) should be done slow to let them get soft and sweet as a nice base flavor. The okra will help thicken this into a nice consistency. Personally, I’m not an okra fan, but a friend got me into using it more often, and though other thickeners can be substituted as well, I do prefer the okra in dishes like this because of how they meld into the dish flavor wise. I’ve also done versions of this with cheese and baked it after the initial cook to give it a nice crusty top too. This dish, or variants of it can also be used as a side dish rather than a main casserole type dish, but that’s for you to figure out!

onion
pepper
celery
garlic
chipotle pepper
diced tomato
canned tuna
brown rice
black beans
collard greens
okra
small amount of olive oil
water (or veggie stock)
house seasoning
large skillet

Mix the rice and olive oil in the skillet and begin to saute
Dice the onion, celery, peppers and garlic
As the rice begins to become translucent add the onion, celery, peppers and garlic and over low heat and sweat the veggies until the onions become translucent, the rice begins to lightly toast and the flavors meld
Drain the tomato and tuna and reserve the liquids
Add the tomato, chopped chipolte and chopped okra, seasoning and allow to continue to sweat to combine flavors
Add the water (or stock), re-season as necessary, combine thoroughly cover and simmer over medium heat 3/4 of the recommended cooking time for the rice
As the rice begins to soften almost to the point of serving, add the black beans, collard greens and re-season as necessary, cover and continue to simmer
Combine again and allow to rest for the remaining liquid to thicken and serve

By my calculation, last month’s costs at average for the three different stores in walking distance from my apt in N. NJ the costs are below… It is not necessary to use the entire amount of some of these, but I didn’t prorate the costs for the post based on the amount used and total shopping trip for this recipe was under 38.00. For example, I only used a couple of stalks of the head of celery, 2 chipolte pepper from the can, 1/2 cup brown rice from the bag, 2 tbsp of oil, a few tbsp of the house seasoning, 1/2 bag of the other veggies at most, etc…

onion 1 lb chopped frozen bag 1.50 or 1 yellow fresh for 1.29
pepper 1lb chopped frozen bag 1.50 or 1 bell pepper fresh for 1.29
celery 1.79/head
garlic 1.29 fresh or a 32 oz minced container for 8.99
diced tomato 14.5 oz can 1.20
canned tuna 10 oz can 2.00
brown rice 1.5 lb bag 2.50
black beans 0.50 14.5 oz can
collard greens 1 lb chopped frozen bag 1.50
okra 1 lb chopped frozen bag 1.50
olive oil 750 ml bottle 7.99
chipolte peppers 4.5 oz canned in adobe 2.99
water (free – if you make your own stock, that’s pretty close to free too)
house seasoning 3 oz shouldn’t cost more than 3-4.00 to make

EVERYONE LOVES BACON!!!

Just a quickie to let you all know I am still alive and cookin’!! Sorry it’s been so long since my last post, it’s getting better around the kitchen though!! Also, planning a wedding, well that’s another story for another time…I did however find this great club for bacon lovers, it’s a bacon of the month club, and I think you all should join if you got a little extra stimulus money laying around, if not put it on your Christmas list now before you forget about it!! here’s the link enjoy and eat more bacon!! http://www.gratefulpalate.com/?p=Category_11

recipe: catfish and pasta with tomato topping

The origin of this recipe actually comes from a veggie pasta dish I used to make for a friend back in the day. The pasta could be a full meal in-and-of itself if one so chose, but in this case, it’s a nice side using the same basic flavors to marry the two parts of the dish. The conception was to actually serve the fish over the pasta, but the plating can be done several ways. The use of the catfish was because that’s what I had fresh, but the first time I made this it was with tilapia and I’ve used cod, flounder, mahi mahi and even chicken in the past and it’s come out well. The key is to allow the flavors of the “topping” to come together so the longer you can allow them to sit and meld the better. The greens can be substituted easily as well, although I used collard, spinach, kale, mustard or other dark leafy ones will work too. On occasion, I’ve used peas or french cut string beans too, but the other greens seem to lend a much more robust flavor overall. The fish is actually done similar to to a blackening method, so make sure you have proper ventilation as it can get a little smokey.

Topping:
olive oil
tomato
onion
celery
bell pepper
jalapeno pepper
garlic
black pepper
cilantro
mixing bowl
collard greens
frying pan
ice water

Coarsely chop the collard greens
Toss in a very small amount of olive oil
Lightly saute the greens in the frying pan
Remove from heat, immerse in ice water to set color and stop cooking
Finely dice the onion, celery, bell pepper, jalapeno and garlic
Coarsely chop the tomato (or used canned diced tomato)
Combine in a bowl the veggies and greens, crack black pepper, add the cilantro and toss with olive oil
Allow to rest and flavors to combine, toss again before topping

The Fish:
Catfish fillet
Corn meal
House seasoning
Cayenne pepper powder
Skillet

Preheat the skillet over medium high heat
Toss together the corn meal, house seasoning and cayenne pepper
Pat dry the fish, then lightly coat with the seasoning and corn meal mixture
Place the fish on the hot skillet
Sear the one side making sure the thickest part of the fillet is over the hottest part of the pan for 2-3 minutes until coating begins to become crusty
Flip the fish placing it the same way in the pan and finish cooking until cooked through

The Pasta
Dried Spaghetti
Pot of boiling water
Colander

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions until al dente
Drain the pasta
Toss with a very small amount of the topping

Serve:
Place some had torn leaves of the collard on the plate
Place the pasta on top of the collard greens
Place the catfish on top of the pasta
Spoon the topping over the pasta and fish
Add a sprig of fresh cilantro as desired and serve

Recipe: salmon with spicy brown sugar rub

Normally, my daily eating habits revolve around a well plotted routine. If I eat a weekday breakfast, it’s usually yogurt, followed by steamed mixed veggies for lunch, an afternoon snack of Cheerios and then, come home and make dinner. There’s usually a few cups of coffee in there and a lot of water. Hence, why almost all the meals I post are dinner meals. I don’t post most of my dinners though, just because fish and veggies are not necessarily the most exciting things to write about (or read for that matter). I always have a good stockpile of frozen fish and veggies in the house and once a week or so, I’ll get fresh of both and treat myself to something really special. Most of the dishes are very simple and I usually spicerub the fish or use light salad dressings to make a really simple sauce and match the fish and veggies and accouterments. Till now, I typically only write about good inventions or more thought provoking meals, which provoked a thought from a friend regarding some recent recipes: “yo, you’re one of the healthiest eaters I know, but I read your recipes and scratch my head, these are damned good but I wonder sometimes how good for me roux and sausage can be.” True, very true observation. So, I’ll jot down a few more that are maybe less exciting but a the other part of the representation of what I try to eat.

I use a pretty good variety of fish in my cooking but the defaults usually are salmon, flounder, cod, catfish and tuna (not from a can!). Tonight’s meal is with wild caught salmon. You can tell wild caught from the farm raised stuff pretty quick just on the color, with the pinkish color usually wild and the more orangery shade being the less flavorful farm version. The first time I made it it was with long line caught arctic char and absolutely beautiful piece of fish and every time I see it available I always take the opportunity to buy it. The next few times trying to perfect the recipe, I did it with salmon and it works with several other fish with a little imagination. By the way, in this case, leave the skin on, the skin is edible, if you do the recipe right, it’ll crisp up really nicely under the fillet as it chars off giving you a great contrast in textures and really in flavors too. The original version was with pure molasses and although I enjoyed it, people wanted a dry rub version or were to skeeved out with the hot/bitter or thought they didn’t like molasses and wanted a more bitter/sweet balance, so yes, this has sugar in it and that’s not tip top healthy, but there are so many variations in this idea that the fish, the type of “rub” etc with a little imagination does good things.

main dish:
salmon fillet
brown sugar
minced garlic
black pepper
red pepper flakes
crushed rosemary
onion powder
celery powder
black pepper
skillet (cast iron)

Combine the brown sugar, minced garlic, black pepper, red pepper flakes , crushed rosemary, onion powder, celery powder, black pepper in a bowl. If the dry rub is too dry add a little bit of olive oil or molasses.
Take the fish fillet and rub the spice mixture into the flesh – if possible allow the mixture to meld with the fish 20-30 minutes
Set up the skillet over medium to medium high heat and add the fish to the skillet (if not using cast iron you may want a very very light coating of oil over the fish skin before hitting the pan, depends on the pan)
Allow the fish to cook with a cover for several minutes under a cover (depending on thickness of the fillet) until the thickest part of the fish is mostly cooked by the residual steam
Remove the top, increase the heat and allow the fish to finish searing
Once the fish is done (flakes easily with a fork or on a slight touch at the middle portion no longer feels squishy) remove from heat and allow to rest

The sides:
asparagus
shallots
butter
large fry pan or griddle

Rinse the asparagus and snap off the ends
Finely dice the shallots and place with butter in a saute pan over medium heat
Grill or pan fry the asparagus until cooked through, do not overcook
Lightly drizzle the butter and shallot mixture over the asparagus and serve

recipe: stuporbowl faves

Normally, when you see the typical Super Bowl grub it is predictable finger foods that truly reflect the breath of diversity of culinary impressions that make up the breath of the American melting pot. For me, the Superbowl has always been a time to really bring out some unique and special creations which I adapt from year to year depending on what I’m typically cooking around that time and some of my more all-time faves blended together to share with my friends. Despite the lack of a big party this year, I would have broke out the following experiments to share among friends, I came back from my hike down at the Jersey Shore to bring together these dishes to enjoy during the game. These are comfort foods to me, and in as such, the represent some of my favorite interpretations of food as I enjoy it. During the game, I was sharing thoughts with my fellow blogger Bobby (you can see the eclectic conversation we had: http://nyphillycombine.wordpress.com/)

There are a couple of courses to the SB meal so scroll through them

Beer and Cheese Soup
Anyone can bust out the canned quesso or some cheese wiz and then try and ‘doctor it up’ into something, but why go though the hassle when you can have it done right the first time and really bring some flavor to the party. Besides… beer and cheese, c’mon you totally weren’t going to do that with the canned crap anyhow!

Ingreds:
butter
flour
milk (or heavy cream)
onion
garlic
chipolte pepper
celery
extra sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
beer (a nice amber lager or light ale works best)
stock (pork is preferable, beef will work too)
chorizo sausage (pref portuguese charise, however a linguica will work too)
soup pot

Tip:
the liquids are going to be done in parts so please note the beer will be used throughout the recipe to maintain consistency so the final amount will vary. The beer and stock when combine will be about 1:1 to 2:1 beer to stock. The creme should be about 2:1 to the beer and stock to creme (the creme really is just to help set the roux as the thickener like making cheese sauces)

How:
Very finely dice the onion, pepper, celery and garlic and dice the chroizo (cut small pieces not big slices)
Add the butter and the flour to the pot (1:1) and allow to begin to combine over low heat
Once combined add the veggies and continue to work the mixture until the veggies soften and the roux to begin to brown
Do not let the roux or the veggies burn, but allow the roux to get to between a dark blond and light brick color while the veggies begin to break down
Add chorizo and the creme and combine until the creme is integrated with the roux to form a mother sauce
Add the beer and stock mixture and the cheese and stir lightly to combine
Bring the mixture up to a boil and immediately back down to a simmer stirring constantly
Allow to simmer watching the consistency so it remains thick and rich, do not allow the mixture to burn to the bottom (heat is too high) or begin to chuck (heat might be too low)… add beer as necessary during simmering to maintain consistency.
When the soup is ready there should be almost no veggies left to feel in the soup (you can use a blender to thin them out if absolutely necessary) and it should be a creamy and rich combination with balanced flavors
Serve with finely chopped flat leaf parsley and additional grated cheese as desired

Note:
I actually have made this without the charise and with veggie stock, so it is possible to do it other ways, but the charise and pork stock make a nice pairing to the cheese. I’ve also done this with a blended cheese mixture, so feel free to experiment with the cheeses as long as they maintain the consistency of the soup.

Pork and Poblano Chili
Nachos ’supreme’ are so cliche and chili and chips can be pretty plain (besides, the kidney beans make the beer drinking guests fart more). This isn’t my chili verde recipe, but the color and the flavors will definitely turn more than a few heads and tantalize a few tastebuds who probably had one too many hamburger helpers lately.

Ingreds:
onion
poblano peppers
green jalipino or other hot pepper
celery
garlic
bay leaf
cubed pork (very small cubes)
andouile sausage
green chili powder (ancho or other red will work too)
cumin
white pepper
rosemary
beer (a nice amber lager or light ale works best)
olive oil
flour
stock pot

Tips:
because this is a poblano chili, you will need about 2:1 poblano to the rest of your veggies. it isn’t supposed to be super hot. Most poblanos are fairly mild so if you have a batch of mild ones, use the jalipino to give it some bit, otherwise, if you have good, bold polbanos, let them do their business alone. I strongly suggest charring the polblano too to bring out the earthy flavor and really give the dish some depth. Take the whole cooking process SLOW. Like most long cook meals, you can do 30 minutes cook time, but trust me, 3 hours is a much better minimum, set it up and after the first 15 minutes of cooking just check it at regular intervals and go about the rest of your business.

How:
Coarsely chop onion, poblano peppers, jalipino celery and garlic and place it in a large stock pot
1:1 oil and flour should be added to the pot and set the heat to medium, stirring constantly so the veggies begin to soften and the roux begins to form
Dust the pork with the cumin, white pepper, chili powder, crushed rosemary and white pepper
Once the roux begins to darken and take on a tan to redish color and the veggies are softened add the cubed pork and sliced sausage
Keep the whole mixure moving lightly and slowly sear off the pork and sausage
Once the pork and sausage have seared off add the beer to the mixture, reseason with the cumin, while pepper, chili powder, crushed rosemary and white pepper, add the bay leaf
Bring up to a boil and then immediately back down to a very very low simmer
Allow to simmer and reseason as necessary till the meat is almost ready to fall apart with a fork and the sauce is thick and rich from redection and the roux
Nicest to finally serve with chips and let people dig in or with collard lined bowls with shredded cheese, shredded poblano peppers and cilanro

Catfish Cakes
So, you wanted to serve chicken fingers. Ahem, lame! C’mon really? Deep fried, breaded chicken with a collage of lame “dipping” sauces? I’m not only Portuguese and grew up with spectacular codfish cakes, but I grew up in MD and have an inherent love of crab cakes. This recipe combines what I love of both into an invention that encompasses another great white fish for the experience. Trust me, it’ll turn a head and it’s not the greezy serve of those bock bocks you were gonna serve

What:
Catfish filets
whole black pepper corns
rosemary
cumin
garlic
house spice
cilantro
corn meal
large skillet

Tips:
Fresh, fresh, fresh… catfish can be realy cheap and not even the farm raised ones, but go with what you can get and it’ll really add to the experience the fresher it is. Also, for “dipping” sauces, there are a tonne of great ones, from a garlic and clarified butter, to a nice coarse ground mustard, to a chili paste, to molassase and then some… the house spice, which is a lynchpin in this recipe, could be anything from say a storebought blackening seasoning to your own personal house spice, but it is a mixture or combination of the flavors you “love” and that’s what is most important.

How:
Cut up the catfish filets into pieces (I strongly suggest not buying “catfish bits” on sale, you’ll spend too much time removing skin and “fat” and not enjoy the experience, trust me, nice fresh filets will go a long long way)
In your deep skillet put garlic, the bay leaf, rosemary and the pepper corns and bring up to a boil with water that covers at least 1/3 the depth
Once the aroma begins to exude, add the catfish filet and let it poach till it’s just about flaking
Set the fish aside and once “cooled” crumble it in a large mixing bown with rosemary, cumin, garlic, fresh cilantro and house spice to the corn meal and then coat the fish totally pressing it together against itself as necessary into palm sized balls
Keep the skillet super hot and then re-add the coated catfish
Do not let the catfish to burn to the dry skillet, keep the pan moving and the catfish searing over the high heat rolling through the pan
If necessary add a little bit of oil the the skillet to keep from burning and let the coating begin to brown before removing from heat

Note:
If necessary, you can add a nice heavy starchy mashed potato to the mixture, boil it cubed into small pieces with the fish and then mash it and combine it with the flaked fish at the same time as the spices before you hit the high heat. You may actually need a light coating of oil if you use the potato, but you’ll have to feel out your pan to decide. The potato will strech the same amount of fish twice as far, but do not over potato and for every one you add per big filet remember to reduce the corn meal by the same amount or you’ll have a dry starchy mess.

Hush Puppies
No no, not those shoes you hated as a kid, and i’m sure, if not positive that this recipe is probably a last choice but it’s designed to be a good pairing to the rest of these ideas… remember, i suck at making dough and other baking goods and I’m not typically a fryer guy either, but this, could be worth it, if you can figure out my stupidity

What:
1/2 cup finely grated veggies (onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic in “equal” parts)
flat leaf parsley
2 cups sifted fine stone ground corn meal
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
cold water
mixing bowl
deep skillet
oil

How:
fill skillet 1/2 deep with oil and bring up to under a simmer, no more than 375 degrees
Stir corn meal, sugar, soda together in mixing bowl
Add egg, shredded veggies and parsley and buttermilk and beat until frothy in mixing bowl
Pour wet ingreds into dry and stir lightly to mix in bowl
Add just enough of the cold water to make dough a good dropping – the dough should hold its shape in the palm of your hand
Drop by palmfulls into hot oil, keep turning until golden brown on all sides

All That Remains is: Dessert mmmm…..Rootbeer Battered Bananas!!

So, here’s a quick and fairly easy take on beer batter for a bad ass dessert dish, but as I mentioned before I like to play in the deep fryer, so you’ll need on or need to fashion one out of a pot….Make sure you have some vanilla ice cream to go with this one, it makes it sooooo much better!! And, make sure and use a good quality root beer that’s fairly spicy I like the Boylan’s outta Jersey, mostly because it’s still made with REAL sugar….

Root Beer Batter

3/4 C. Flour

1 Bottle / Can of your favorite root beer

Dash of cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

Mix these ingredients in a mixing bowl until smooth, you want kind of a thinned pancake batter consistency.

Ok, so you take your bananas and slice them on a bias, toss them lightly in some flour, shake the extra flour off and dip them in the batter. Then place them in your deep fryer slowly, don’t just bomb them in there, or they will stick to the bottom and that will suck!! Fry them until they’re a nice dark golden brown then place them on some paper towels to drain for a minute.

The Sauced up Sauce

1/2 stick of butter (the real stuff)

1 C. Brown sugar

1 shot of your favorite spiced rum

1 shot of heavy whipping cream

In a heavy skillet/ saute’ pan melt down your butter but don’t burn it!! As soon as your butter is melted add your brown sugar and whisk it in until it’s melted and bubbly then add your rum(*see side note) after the flame dies down, add your heavy cream and bring back to a boil while whisking as soon as it reaches boiling point remove from heat.

Place 1 large scoop of ice cream in a bowl and surround with the fried banana slices, and spoon sauce over the top, and dig in, there’s nothing like a warm fried banana with ice cream and caramel love!!

*Here’s that side note thingy, when you put booze into a hot pan especially when it’s on an open flame, it’s going to flame up, just be aware and don’t burn your house down, or your face off…..Just looking out for ya’!!