Cookin' with Wood

Cheesy Catfish

So I'm at the grocery store Friday morning after work, and I'm looking for some fish. I almost bought tilapia, then I saw some catfish fillets. I don't usually go to the grocery store without a plan, but it was a last-minute thing and sometimes you just have to live life on the wild side. I decided to go with the catfish. The price seemed reasonable, so I bravely threw the package into the cart. I bought a few other items, not enough to justify using a cart, but like I said, I didn't have a plan going in.

When I got home, I looked through my binder to see if I already had a catfish recipe, and I didn't, so on to the internet. When I came to this recipe, it looked like it would be good, and there were a lot of reviews of it and suggestions on how to improve it. I incorportated a number of those suggestions, and I'll pass them on to you. The best part was that I already had all of the other ingredients I'd need! It turned out great.

First of all, if your fish is frozen, thaw it out. Mine was fresh, so I just kept it in the refrigerator until I was ready to use it.

Start out by cracking your egg into one of the bowls, and add the milk. Use the whisk to mix it up really well. In the other bowl, mix all of the other ingredients except for the fish and the butter. Now would be a good time to pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

One of the changes that I made at the suggestion of another cook was to add bread crumbs. The original recipe called for 1 1/4 cups flour. Cut that by half, and substitute the bread crumbs, as it says in the ingredients list. You can use regular or Italian. I used regular. Another suggestion that I concur with is adding more of the spices, so I added just a bit more paprika and black pepper.

Line your baking dish with aluminum foil. I recommend the non-stick for this purpose. Then lightly spray it with cooking spray anyway. I did. Nothing can stick to that. If the La Brea tarpits were made of non-stick aluminum foil and cooking spray, we'd still have dinosaurs.

One fillet at a time, dip them into the egg and milk mixture, then dredge through the spice mixture until well coated. A wider, flatter bowl would be better for the spice mixture, and a deeper bowl for the egg and milk mixture. Maybe I should have mentioned that earlier.

Place the fillets in the baking dish, and take a minute to melt your butter. Pour the melted butter over the fish.

The original recipe said to bake the fish for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Most reviewers said that more cooking time was needed. I baked the fish for 30 minutes, then put them under the broiler for a minute or two. When I pulled them out of the oven, they were indeed golden brown, and easily flaked with a fork. I heated up a can of green beans to go with the entree. I must admit, I was impressed with how good they were. I guess you could use the same recipe with other types of fish, but these bottom-dwellers made me feel like I was sittin' on top of the world.

Bob is the author of "Don't Fry Bacon with Your Shirt Off!  A Single Man's Guide to the Kitchen" a PublishAmerica book.