Catfish Sloppy Joe's

From Fish Without a Doubt: The Cook's Essential Companion by Rick Moonen and Roy Finamore.

These are just as sloppy and delicious as you could hope for. Soft, tender potato rolls are my choice for serving, but any hamburger bun will do. 

Serves 8

Accept Substitutes
Sloppy Joes are great made with tilapia, but you could try skinless salmon, char, or trout too.

1/2pound catfish fillet (bloodline trimmed; see book, page 37), cut into 1/3- inch dice
Coarse salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced green bell pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
Barbecue Sauce for Fish (recipe follows)

For serving
8 hamburger buns
Softened butter
Potato chips

1. Season the catfish with salt. Let sit on the counter.

2. Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the pan’s hot, add the oil, onion, and bell pepper. Sauté, stirring often, until the onion starts to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in the paprika and sauté, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the catfish and sauté for 1 minute. Stir in the barbecue sauce and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 6 to 7 minutes, until thick.

3. Meanwhile, heat a griddle or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Butter the buns and toast them on the griddle.

4. Fill the buns with the catfish mixture and pile some potato chips on top for crunch. Serve these Joes while they’re hot.

Barbecue Sauce for Fish

Fish deserves its own special barbecue sauce. This one isn’t aggressive in the least, so it’s perfectly suited to the soft nuances of seafood. The flavor of the clam juice wafts through the sauce. Makes about 1 3/4 cups

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup minced onion
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Coarse salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 cup clam juice
1 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground white pepper

1. Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil, onion, garlic, thyme, and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened but not browned, about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and water in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, swirling the sugar in the skillet, until the sugar dissolves and the caramel is dark amber. Add the vinegar and clam juice and boil until the caramel has dissolved.

3. Add the caramel and clam juice mixture to the onion, along with the ketchup, Tabasco, Worcestershire, and white pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the sauce for 20 minutes. Let cool.

4. You can make this well in advance. It will keep for days in the refrigerator.

Seared Halibut with Green Beans, Scallions, and White Wine Sauce

This recipe offers a prime example of cooking last minute because the entire dish can be prepared and executed very quickly.  After sauteing the halibut, the fish is removed from the pan, which is then deglazed with white wine and fresh lemon juice. Butter is swirled in gradually to yield a rich, flavorful sauce — punctuated by scallions, capers, and diced tomato — that is simply poured over the fish; its pleasing citric acidity and buttery richness make it a perfect foil for the halibut

 If you can find find Haricots Verts try them versus the good ‘old green beans. 

Ingredients:

1 pound young green beans or haricots verts

Four 7-ounce halibut fillets, each approximately 1 inch thick

Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup Sauvignon Blanc or other dry white wine

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1/2 cup unsalted butter

5 scallions, white part only, finely sliced on the bias

1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed

1 large, ripe tomato, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice

Directions:

In a pot of boiling salted water set over high heat, cook the haricots verts for 3 to 4 minutes, until tender. Drain and place them in the center of a large, warm serving platter. Cover and keep warm.

Season the halibut on both sides with salt and pepper. 

In a 12-inch saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Cook the fish for about 3 minutes, until lightly browned. Turn, reduce the heat to medium, and cook about 4 minutes longer, until the fish is opaque in the center and browned on both sides. Put the fish on the platter with the beans and cover to keep warm.

Pour off any oil in the pan and add the wine and lemon juice. 

Raise the heat to high and deglaze the pan by scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Cook until the sauce reduces by half, about 2 minutes. 

Reduce the heat and stir in the butter, a piece at a time, to enrich and flavor the sauce. Add the scallions, capers, and tomato. 

Season with salt and pepper, and pour over the fish on the platter. Serve immediately.

Pan Seared Halibut with a Saffron Broth

This couldn't be simpler and the fish melts in your mouth.  The color of the broth is beautiful and the flavor is heavenly.

For the heck of it, I threw a little fresh spinach in one of the bowls, if you want a little texture, a little green, give it a try. Serve with a good bread to sop up the broth. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 halibut filet

Salt

Pepper

1 teaspoon Saffron

1 cup chicken broth

Directions:

Season both sides of halibut with salt and black pepper.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. 

Add halibut and cook 2 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

Remove fish from pan and set aside.

To the same pan, broth and saffron.  Bring to a simmer.  Return fish to pan and simmer 2 minutes, until fish is fork-tender.

Serves 1

BBQ Shrimp

So I can occasionally kick-up my cooking too, and if anyone like a spicy dish try this or my Etoufee recipe. Now why they call this dish BBQ I’ll never know since it’s neither cooked on a BBQ or made with a BBQ sauce, but if you ever go to NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) this is the dish you’ll get if you order BBQ shrimp.  The best part of this dish is the sauce and bread; the shrimp come second. Use fresh head-on shrimp if you can find them; they lend the dish more flavor. (Just remember to remove the eyes before cooking, as they will turn the sauce black.) - This dish was created by Chef Jason Gronlund, the executive chef for Tabasco.

5 tbsp. butter, divided
1 tbsp. garlic, chopped
12 jumbo shrimp
1/4 cup clam juice
1/4 cup beer
3 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1 pinch oregano
1 pinch black pepper
1/4 Tsp. Tabasco sauce
1 loaf French bread

1. Melt 2 Tbsp. of butter in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add garlic and shrimp to pan and sauté together until the shrimp starts to turn pink. Add remaining ingredients, except for the 3 tbsp of butter. Keep the shrimp moving around in the pan so they cook evenly.

2. Allow liquid to reduce by half, then add the remaining butter. Keep stirring the sauce so the butter blends into it evenly.

3. Serve immediately with slices of warm, crusty French bread.

Cioppino

Cioppino is a fish stew derived from the various regional fish soups and stews of Italian cuisine. Cioppino is traditionally made from the catch of the day, which in the dish's place of origin is typically a combination of dungeness crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and white fish with fresh tomatoes in a wine sauce, often served over spaghetti or other long pasta and toasted buttered bread, either sourdough or baguette. This dish was developed in the late 1800s by Italian fishermen who settled in the North Beach section of San Francisco.  Originally it was made on the boats while out at sea and later became a staple as Italian restaurants proliferated in San Francisco. The name comes from ciuppin, a word in the Ligurian dialect of the port city of Genoa, meaning "to chop" or "chopped" which described the process of making the stew by chopping up various leftovers of the days catch.  At least one restaurant in San Francisco, the eponymous Cioppino's, uses the bogus story in which the name derived from the heavily Italian-accented cry of the wharf cooks for the fishermen to "chip in" some of their catch to the collective soup pot.

So, there’s your history lesson for the day. What I love about Cioppino is that you can alter this dish in many ways.  Change it up by using potatoes, chorizo, mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, crab, halibut, sea bass, or snapper.  Add a little heat with red pepper.  You can do practically anything to personalize this delicious dish.

Ingredients

1 1/2  tablespoons  olive oil

1/2  cup chopped onion

1 1/2  teaspoons bottled minced garlic

1/4  teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 pound mussels, scrubbed and debearded

8 ounces sea scallops

8 ounces peeled and deveined medium shrimp

1/2 cup clam juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

Directions

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and red pepper to pan; sauté for 2 minutes. Add mussels, scallops, and shrimp to pan; sauté for 1 minute. Stir in 1/2 cup clam juice, parsley, and diced tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until mussels open, and discard any unopened shells.

Serve with toasted garlic bread.

Crawfish Etouffe

Wow, is this good!  Ok now, don't say eeww about Crawfish it tastes like little lobsters.  I buy mine at Whole Foods and it comes in frozen 1 pound packages (well I live in Colorado so it has to get here.).  If you like a little spice and want to kick dinner up a notch, this is an easy recipe that you really can't mess up.  If you don't want it too spicy then add a little less cayenne pepper, but it's perfect.

This recipe comes from a friend of my husband. They have it every year during their fantasy football draft. So ladies, men love it!

Ingredients

6 Tbsp butter

2 cups chopped onion

2 cloves chopped garlic

2 Tbsp chopped bell pepper (red or green)

1/4 cup chopped celery

1 lb crawfish meat 

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp chopped green onion (green part only)

2 Tbsp chopped parsley

1 packet brown gravy mix

Directions:

In large pan, melt butter over medium heat. Saute onions, pepper, garlic, and celery until onions are translucent.  

Add 1/8 cup of water. 

Cover pan and let simmer until vegetables are cooked (about 15 minutes).

Add crawfish, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper.  Cover pan and cook for 15 minutes.

Add green onions and parsley. Sprinkle a little brown gravy mix to thicken.  Stir and continue cook 5 minutes.

Serve with rice.

Seafood Ragù with Cavatappi

You can use mussels or scallops in place of the clams or shrimp.

Makes
6 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)
2  tablespoons  olive oil, divided
1 1/2  cups  finely chopped red onion
2  teaspoons  minced garlic cloves
1/2  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
1  cup  dry red wine
1 1/2  cups  canned crushed plum tomatoes
3  tablespoons  minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
1/2  teaspoon  salt
24  littleneck clams
16  medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 1/2 pound)
1  pound  skinless halibut fillets, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2  cup  water
4  cups  hot cooked cavatappi (about 10 ounces uncooked pasta)

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and pepper; cover and cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
Add wine; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in tomatoes, 2 tablespoons parsley, and salt; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
Add clams. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Stir in shrimp and fish. Increase heat to medium-high; cook 2 minutes. Add water. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until clams open. Discard any unopened shells. Add 1 tablespoon oil and pasta; toss to coat. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon parsley.
Calories: 361 (22% from fat); Fat: 8.7g (sat 1.2g,mono 4.2g,poly 1.9g)
Protein: 37.8g

Seafood Fettuccine

This sauce is like a traditional alfredo, but with no flour or other thickener. Don't worry if it looks thin. It's the perfect consistency for coating the pasta. Pat the shrimp and scallops dry before cooking with paper towels so they don't dilute the sauce.
Makes
8 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)
Ingredients
1 1/2  tablespoons  butter
1  cup  chopped green onions
4  garlic cloves, minced
1  pound  medium shrimp, peeled
1  pound  sea scallops
2  cups  half-and-half
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
1/2  pound  lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed
3/4  cup  (3 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
8  cups  hot cooked fettuccine (about 1 pound uncooked pasta)
1/4  cup  chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; sauté 1 minute or until tender. Add shrimp and scallops; sauté 3 minutes or until done. Reduce heat to medium-low.
Add half-and-half, salt, pepper, and crabmeat; cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly (do not boil). Gradually sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over seafood mixture, stirring constantly; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Combine pasta and seafood mixture in a large bowl. Top each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese and 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley.
Calories: 438 (30% from fat); Fat: 14.8g (sat 7.7g,mono 3.6g,poly 0.9g)
Protein: 38.5g