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.

Rao’s Seafood Salad

Ah yes, the big downfall for my DH.  This recipe was featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay last night, when they were doing the typical Italian Christmas Eve "Feast of the 7 Fishes".  He's now ready to fly out to Vegas for dinner at Raos's.  I have to admit I won't have a problem sharing this with him. Vegas here we come!!

1 lb. Fresh small Squid (Calamari), with tentacles, cleaned
1 cup jumbo lump crab meat
8 large shrimp
1 lb. cooked fresh lobster meat
2 cups fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons of salt
1 cup Rao’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1 teaspoon chopped Italian parsley
6 lemon wedges
Salt and Pepper to taste


Separate squid bodies and tentacles, as they must be cooked in different water to keep the tentacles from coloring the rings. Place 1 quart cold water in a saucepan. Add squid bodies, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice and 2 tablespoons salt. Place 1 quart cold water in a saucepan. Add squid tentacles, 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of salt. Bring both pots to a boil. Lower heat and cook until squid are very tender, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and refresh in cold water.


Drain the bodies, pat dry and cut into rings.


Under running water, gently rub, pushing the black specks and colored skin from the tentacles. Drain well and pat dry. Combine the rings and tentacles in a colander and drain. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

Peel, devein, and cover shrimp with water and bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Immediately remove from the heat, and refresh in cold, water. Cut into quarters.


Whisk together the oil, remaining lemon juice, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper to taste.


Add shrimp and squid to the oil mixture. Toss to coat. Add crabmeat and lobster and turn gently to coat. Remove and discard garlic cloves. Refrigerate until serving. Garnish with lemon wedges.

Seafood Paella

1 1/4 cups of medium grain rice
4 cups of chicken stock (or fish stock)
1 + 1/2 glass of white wine
1 pinch of saffron
30 mussels
20 clams
15 large prawns
1/2 onion
1 stalk of celery
1 fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves
8” chorizo sausage – sliced across ways
small handful (total) of chopped fresh basil and parsley
olive oil
lemon wedges

Finely chop the onion, celery, fennel and garlic. Scrub the mussel shells, and debeard. Scrub the clam shells. Peel the shrimp, and de-vein if required. Discard any mussels or clams that have broken shells, or are open and don’t close up tight when you scrub them.
In a small pan, warm the stock over a low heat.
Put the saffron in 1 glass white wine, and let it infuse for at least 10 minutes.
Heat the paella pan over a medium heat, and add two tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil is hot add in the onion, celery and fennel. Cook gently until soft – about 10 minutes. Add in the garlic, and cook for another minute. Stir in the rice, and let it absorb some of the oil. Add in the chorizo. Turn up the heat and pour in saffron infused wine. Let this boil for a minute, and then add in most of the stock. Gently stir.
Let this boil gently for 5 minutes. Add in the prawns, and cook for a further 15 minutes. You will want to gently stir this from time to time, to make sure everything is heating evenly. If it looks like the rice is absorbing all the stock too early (before the 15 minutes is up) add a little more in.

For authentic paella you do not want stir the dish during the last half of cooking. The best paella has a crust on the bottom of the rice (where the rice is in contact with the pan) – this is only achieved through not stirring.

With a few minutes to go in the cooking process, put a large pan over a high heat. Add in the 1/2 glass of white wine, and get it boiling. When it has reduced by about half, toss in the mussels and clams. Cover with a tight fitting lid, and turn the heat down to medium-high. These will take about 3 minutes to steam open. Discard any mussels or clams that haven’t opened.
Arrange the shellfish in the paella, sprinkle with the basil and parsley. and let sit for a few minutes, off the heat for the flavors to meld together. Serve with the lemon wedges.

Clams and Chorizo

I love quick and easy recipes.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound fresh Spanish chorizo sausage, ground
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 dozen Little Neck clams, scrubbed
1 cup dry white wine
1 orange, halved
1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley
2 bay leaves

In a large, pan or Dutch Oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add the chorizo and cook until browned. Add the garlic and bay leaves, and saute until lightly brown. Add the clams and wine. Squeeze the orange juice into the pan then add the halves. The rind will add another dimension to the sauce. Cover and steam until the clams open, discard any that do not. Remove from heat, top with parsley and serve in the same dish.