I have always been a little weary of fish. There are so many kinds, fresh, salt water, firm, soft, white, pink, red, etc. I had about 3 kinds of fish I consistently would cook, but recently with the encouragement of my significant other, I have added another to the list. Catfish!

I personally think catfish are one of the uglier fish of the underwater world and something about that just always turned me off of trying them. Well my man ordered some lemon pepper catfish one night while we were eating out and I was brave enough to try and bite and low and behold, I have been missing out! This fish is delish!! So started my quest to find a great catfish recipe I could make at home.

As a little side note, catfish seems to be a relatively inexpensive compared to many other types of fish. If you need a quick, inexpensive, and tasty meal, put catfish on your list. Don’t be a wuss like I was for so long! My local international foods market regularly sells catfish fillets for $2.99/lb.

I put this recipe together after cooking a few other version I found on various websites but not being totally satisfied with any of them. So it occurred to me to take the elements I liked from each and see if I could meld them together into something that tasted good and wasn’t too hard to fix. The experiment, I have to say, was more successful then I first would have imagined. *cue mad scientist laughter*

Lemon Pepper Catfish

2 half-pound Catfish Fillets
3 lemons, juiced
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove fresh Garlic
1/2 cup Flour
3 tbsp Cornmeal
1 tsp Lemon Pepper Seasoning
2 tbsp butter

1. Combine lemon juice, sea salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil and mix well. Marinade catfish in mixture for at least 30 minutes, but not more then a few hours.

2. Mix flour, cornmeal and lemon pepper seasoning in a shallow dish. Remove fish from marinade and dredge in flour until well coated. Let sit for several minutes for mixture to adhere. This will help keep it from falling off while cooking.

3. Heat butter on medium-high in skillet. Carefully add fish once butter is melted and hot. Cook 3-7 per side until brown and fish flakes easily.

Won’t you celebrate National Catfish Day with me on June 25th and give this recipe a try?

I found this recipe in all places, the comments of an NPR article about avocados. I had bought both an avocado and mango at the farmer’s market because they each looked so ripe and delicious. I got home and realized I didn’t really have anything in my recipe book that called for either as a main ingredient. I really wanted to make them the star of a dish. The pair evoked a Caribbean inspiration in me, so I set out to create an entire Caribbean-themed meal.  To that end, I stumbled across this little gem of a recipe and instantly thought it would be a wonderfully flavorful topping for Jerk Chicken. Something sweet to balance out the heat of the Jerk spices. I have also served this on it’s own as a dip with tortilla chips. It’s is so good though, I am not ashamed to share that I have eaten this straight out of the bowl by itself.

Mango and Avocado Salsa

2 ears grilled corn on the cob*
1 mango, diced
1 Hass avocado, diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 roasted red pepper, diced*
1 small jalapeno, diced without seeds
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 lime, juiced
Salt to taste

1. Once corn is grilled, hold corn upright on a cutting board and slice corn kernels off cob.
2. Mix kernels in bowl with all remaining ingredients except avocado.
3. Let sit in refrigerator for at least half an hour for the flavors to mingle.
4. Before serving, add diced avocado.
5. Mix gently, adding more olive oil and salt to taste.

* I can’t endorse trying this yourself for safety reasons, but I got this idea for roasting red peppers and corn indoors from one of the cooks on the Food Network after she demonstrated it on an episode of her Saturday morning show. I use my all-metal steamer basket placed over one of my gas burners to roast both my corn and red pepper. While this has turned my steamer basket some funny colors, it seems to be holding up fine and the corn and peppers turn out perfect! I just turn the items every few minutes with long tongs over medium heat to roast them on all sides.