How to blacken catfish

by Annie Scott, Posted Oct 6th 2008 @ 9:03AM

Nothing tastes like a good blackening. And it's not even hard.

Many people shy away from blackened foods, thinking that blackening means charring the meat, the vegetable, whatever is being blackened.

Au contraire! Blackening refers to what happens to the Cajun spices! The spices get really hot and kazaam! They explode in the heat, turning black and infusing your fish, meat, vegetables or what-have-you with their flavor. Cajun, delicious, and a lot better for you than frying.

Check out instructions on how to make two seriously delicious blackened catfish fillets after the jump.

First, mix up your spices. I recommend:
1 tsp dried crushed oregano
1 tsp dried crushed thyme
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
a dash of brown sugar
cayenne pepper to your personal level of awesomeness

You can heat up a tablespoon of olive oil on high heat in a large skillet while you look for all those spices.

Once they are mixed up in a small bowl, rinse your two catfish fillets in cold water and pat them good and dry with paper towels.

With a brush, paint each fillet with olive oil and sprinkle your spice mix on generously. Be sure to fully coat both sides.

By now, your skillet should be really hot. That is good.

Cook the fillets for about four minutes on each side, which should cook them through. The spices are going to smoke, so open a window.

You're done! Serve with lemon wedges and succotash or biscuits with honey butter, and enjoy.

Filed Under: Ingredients, Methods
Tags: blacken, blackened, blackening, braising, broiling, cajun, catfish, dinner, fish, frying, grill, lunch, new orleans, NewOrleans, spicy