Custom Search

2005

TODAY's CASES:

Fried Catfish

I recently had some excellent fried catfish prepared by a local caterer. I wish I had that recipe for you, but I could not obtain it. The fish appeared to be coated with something different, perhaps panko breadcrumbs, before frying. Below are some other very good catfish recipes. Bring on the hush puppies, coleslaw, and french fries! Note that these recipes are for American channel catfish.

Basic Fried Catfish

Ingredients:
1 pound catfish, cut into 1-inch strips
canola oil
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour, separated
salt, to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
1/2 cup milk or 2 beaten eggs

Directions:
1. Heat enough oil in a deep skillet over Medium-High for fish to float.
2. Rinse fillets and pat dry. Cut into strips.
3. Combine cornmeal with 1/4 cup flour, salt, cayenne and garlic powder 
in a shallow bowl. Blend until evenly mixed.
4. Place 3/4 cup flour in a second bowl. Pour milk into or beat eggs in 
a third bowl.
5. Coat fish strips in flour. Dip in milk or beaten egg. Coat evenly with 
cornmeal mixture.
6. Fry strips, a portion at a time, in 375 degree F oil 4 to 5 minutes 
until golden. Avoid crowding and try to prevent pieces from touching. 
Drain on paper towel and serve hot.
-------------------------------------------------------
Blackened Cajun Catfish

Ingredients:
1 pound Basa Fillets
2 tablespoons Butter, melted
Alessi Sea Salt
4 tablespoons Nantucket Bayou Rub Cajun Seasoning

Directions:
1. Cut fillets into 4 total portions.
2. Heat a large, heavy skillet over Medium-High heat 4 to 5 minutes 
or until skillet is very hot but not smoking.
3. Meanwhile, pat fillets dry and place on a sheet of waxed paper. 
Brush both sides with melted butter and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning.
4. Brush skillet with any remaining butter. Place fish in skillet and 
cook 2 to 3 minutes per side; reduce heat to Medium if fish begins to 
burn. Fish is done when the center turns from translucent to opaque (white) 
and fish just begins to flake when tested with a fork. Remove from skillet
immediately and serve.
------------------------------------------------------
Cajun Catfish with Bell Peppers and Onion
Courtesy of H-E-B Cooking Connections

Ingredients:
2 Cajun-Marinated Catfish Fillets (about 1 lb.)
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded
1/4 cup Flour
2 tbsps. Vegetable Oil
2 tbsps. white wine vinegar

Directions:
1. Cut onion in half, then into thin slices. Cut bell peppers into 
thin slices. Seed jalapeno and slice into rings.
2. Cut each fillet into 2 portions. Place fillets on a sheet of wax 
paper. Dust with flour and turn to coat both sides; shake off excess.
3. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over Medium-High heat. Cook 
fish 2 to 3 minutes per side, until color turns from clear to opaque 
(white). Remove to a plate and keep warm.
4. Add onion, bell peppers and jalapeno to skillet; sauté 8 to 10 minutes 
or until tender. Stir in vinegar and heat 1 minute. Season mixture with 
salt and pepper. Spoon over fish and serve.
------------------------------------------------------
Oven-Fried Catfish

Ingredients:
2 pounds farm-raised catfish fillets or steaks
1 cup slightly crushed corn flakes
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 tablespoon salt

Directions:
Dissolve salt in combined milk and water. Dip fish in Milk; roll 
in corn flakes. Bake on greased cookie sheet in extremely hot oven 
(500 degrees) for about fifteen minutes.
----------------------------------------------------
Catfish Nuggets With Dipping Mustard Sauce

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 pounds U.S. farm-raised catfish fillets, cut into 1-inch nuggets
Vegetable oil for deep frying


Mix cornmeal, salt and oregano in a shallow dish or on a piece of wax 
paper. Mix milk and egg in another shallow dish.

Dip catfish nuggets into the milk mixture, then dredge in the cornmeal 
mixture, tossing to coat.

Fill a large skillet half full of vegetable oil and heat to 350 degrees 
on a deep-frying thermometer. Add nuggets to the hot oil and fry, working 
in batches, until golden brown, turning to cook evenly on all sides. Drain 
on paper towels. Serve immediately with Dipping Mustard Sauce.

Dipping Mustard Sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup dry mustard (yes, 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
2 egg yolks

In a small heavy saucepan, mix sugar and mustard. Stir in vinegar and 
egg yolks. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wire 
whisk, for 10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Transfer 
to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until chilled (we were serving 
the nuggets momentarily so we skipped this step). Before serving, let 
stand at room temperature about 10 minutes.

Cornish Saffron Cake

On 2 May 2005 at 12:50, Susan wrote:

> What a great site!  I am looking for an old recipe - one that my
> Great-Grandmother used.  I tried one recipe that was on the net - but
> it was too light in color and a different texture than the one my Dad
> remembers.  I don't believe it had yeast in it - and it was made in a
> loaf pan.  Thanks for your help - I will contine to search as well.
> Susan 

Hi Susan,

Well, I cannot tell anything about color and texture just from a recipe, but below are two that have no yeast and are made in loaf pans.

Phaed

Cornish Saffron Cake Recipe

1/8 t. saffron 
3/4 C. boiling water 
1/2 C. butter 
1 1/2 C. sugar 
2 eggs 
1 t. lemon extract 
1 1/2 C. flour 
2 t. baking powder 
1/4 t. salt 
1 1/2 C. raisins or currants, soaked in boiling water to cover and 
drained. Steep saffron overnight in the 3/4 C. boiling water. 

Preheat oven to 325°F. 

In bowl, cream together butter, sugar, eggs and lemon extract. Into 
separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Dredge 
raisins or currants in flour, then add fruit and flour mixture to 
butter mixture alternately with steeped saffron. 

Pour into well-greased and floured 8 1/2-by-4 1/2- or 9-by-5-inch 
loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven 1 hour or until bread tests done. 

Makes 1 loaf.
-----------------------------
Cornish Saffron Cake   

15 grains saffron (1 big pinch)
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. lemon flavoring
2 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. raisins
1/4 c. currants
1/4 c. candied fruit, optional

Add saffron to boiling water. Steep 1 hour. Cream butter, sugar, eggs 
and lemon flavoring. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Dredge raisins 
in flour. Grease and flour 2 bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. 

Edible Orchids

On 2 May 2005 at 16:38, Ray wrote:

> Some friends are planning a blowout wedding come fall, and while much
> of it is to catered, they are making The Cake.  I was asked this past
> weekend, by the pastry pair, if "orchids are edible," as they
> apparently want to decorate the cake with them, and are worrying (I'd
> guess) with felling the folks at the frolic at cake-eating time.  They
> plan them only as decoration, but I suppose they are thinking "toxic
> seepage."
> 
> Well, I did not think that orchids were especially problematic--after
> all there are many flowers that are not only ornamental, but
> ingestible.  Web research with combinations of "edibility, orchids,
> edible, flowers," produced the scanty reassurance that most orchid
> species have edible flowers--love that "most"--and there are specialty
> grocers who provide "edible orchids."  But I'd like to know the names
> of the edible species that are the ones sold.  Miltonia?  Dendrobium?
> Cymbidium?  Phalaenopsis?
> 
> Ray
> 

Hello Ray,

I waded through a lot of web pages and mostly found the same thing that you did. The least informative were the gardening sites, most of which continue to insist that the vanilla orchid is the "only edible orchid". Apparently they haven't kept up with the rest of the world. Several species of orchid are eaten for food in Africa and Asia - some to the extent that they must be protected by law to avoid being eaten into extinction, and there are French recipes for dishes with orchids ("Laelia Gouldiana").

Species that I found mentioned as being eaten in some parts of the world were Eulophia, Cyrtopodium punctatum, Ophrys speculum. Note that when these orchids are used for food, it's not usually the flower that's eaten, but rather the roots.

Anyhow, perserverance pays, and most of the references to edible decorative orchids used by chefs mentioned that the edible orchids were from "the orient" or from "Thailand" or "Hawaii". Continuing my search, the name "Dendrobium" began to appear more and more often as the ones used by chefs. The only exact species mentioned was "Dendrobium phalaenopsis", but others of the Dendrobium genus are also used.

Phaed


Easy Puff Pastry

On 3 May 2005 at 23:33, Diana wrote:

> Thank you for a fabulous web site!  Better reading than lots of
> books.. Great work that you do here.  Puff Pastry recipe was developed
> by Betty Crocker Kitchens about 1966 and was called "Can Do" Puff
> Pastry. "Can Do" because it did not involve rolling and re-rolling and
> chilling the dough numerous times.  As I recall, it consisted of
> flour, butter and sour cream and was extremely easy to make.   Thank
> you for any help..  Diana
> 

Hello Diana,

See below.

Phaed

Basic 'Can Do' Puff Pastry Dough 
 
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup Gold Medal Flour
1/2 cup dairy sour cream  

Cut butter into flour with pastry blender until completely mixed. 
Stir in sour cream until thoroughly blended. Divided dough into 
2 parts; wrap each and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Roll on well floured cloth-covered board. Bake on ungreased baking 
sheet.  

Peppermint Crisp Fridge Tart

 
On 3 May 2005 at 16:23, Lynda wrote:

> I'm looking for a recipe for "peppermint crisp fridge tart". Its
> basically a South African recipe, ingredients contain condensed milk,
> peppermint crisp chocolate bars, Flake chocolate bars and possibly a
> few other ingredients I can't remember. It is also know as
> "yskastert". Its just a 'mix-and-place in the fridge' recipe. No
> baking involved.
> 
> Have you come across this before?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Lynda 
> 

Hi Lynda,

See below for three recipes.

Phaed

Peppermint Crisp Fridge Tart  

1 packet of Tennis Biscuits
1 Tin of boiled condensed milk (boiled for 3 hours)
or ready made Caramel condensed milk
500ml fresh cream (double cream)
2 tablespoons sugar
grated peppermint crisp - lots of it
or a large slab of peppermint crisp chocolate grated

Smear half the tennis biscuits with half of the caramel condensed milk 
and layer a shallow square glass dish with these biscuits. Sweeten the 
double cream with the sugar and beat until stiff (don't overdo this 
otherwise you'll land up with butter). Put half of the cream on top of 
the biscuits and sprinkle with a good thick layer of peppermint crisp 
chocolate. Repeat this process ending with a layer of peppermint crisp
-----------------------------------
Peppermint Crisp Fridge Tart

Ingredients for Peppermint Crisp Fridge Tart
1 Tin Condensed Milk
1 Tin Evaporated Milk [chilled overnight]
1 Cup Boiling Water
1 Packet Orange Jelly
1 Packet Plain Biscuits [Marie, Tennis, Arrowroot]
3 Peppermint Crisps

Description
Boil tin of condensed milk for 3 hours. Dissolve orange jelly powder in 
boiling water, mix well with condensed milk. Beat evaporated milk until 
thick, beat well into jelly. Grate 2 peppermint crisps and add to mixture. 
Make layers of biscuits [depending on size of dish], pour mixture over 
each layer. Sprinkle third grated peppermint crisp over top of tart. Put 
in fridge to set. Quite large tart.

Notes
Very sweet. Not for diabetics.

Origin
South Africa
-----------------------------------
Peppermint Crisp Fridge Tart  

Ingredients 

250ml cream
1 tin (397g) caramel condensed milk
100g peppermint chocolate, grated
1pkt (200g) tennis biscuits
1 small peppermint crisp

Method

Whip cream.
Fold in caramel condensed milk and grated chocolate.
Layer base of pyrex dish with 1/3 of the Tennis Biscuits.
Pour over a layer of mint mixture.  Repeat layers.
Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Decorate with grated peppermint crisp.

""


Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Phaedrus