Foodie Friday - Oven Blackened Catfish

The hubby is back on a diet kick/healthy low fat eating.  I'm fine with this as I love to cook that way too.  It's not all fried chicken and biscuits around here.  Catfish is a great option for healthy eating, especially in our area.  Noxubee county produces goodness knows how many tons of catfish every year and we have a catfish processing plant right here in Macon.  So, it's a great option for us as it's locally grown, processed, and sold.  I like when my money stays with local farmers. 

 

An easy way to cook catfish fillets is to bake them. It only takes about 20 minutes and there's no fear that you'll overcook them and make them rubbery like sautéing on the stovetop. Just a few ingredients and you're on your way.

I love blackened catfish, but it's a lot of trouble at home. To do it properly you need to be outside as there is a LOT of smoke involved and high temperatures. You can do a fair job of getting that same flavor inside with baking it in your oven. There won't be that wonderful crunchy crust, but the flavor is there and for a week night it is a great 30 minute meal option. I'm also including a recipe for homemade tartar sauce. I guarantee you probably have everything in your fridge and you'll never buy expensive bottled tartar sauce again.

Oven Baked Blackened Catfish with Tartar Sauce

1 pound of catfish fillets (I used about 4 good sized fillets)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Blackening Rub
3 Tablespoons paprika
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 Teaspoon black pepper
1/2 to 1 Teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used about a 1/2 Teaspoon and it was plenty of a kick for me but please adjust as you need to)
1 Teaspoon oregano
1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder

Tartar Sauce
1/3 cup mayonnaise (can use light mayo)
2 Teaspoons lemon juice
1 Teaspoon sweet pickle relish
1/4 Teaspoon onion powder

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Take one tablespoon of olive oil and brush over aluminum foil lined baking sheet until completely coated. Combine all the blackening rub ingredients and set aside.

Make sure your fish is completely thawed if using frozen fish, rinse, and pat dry on paper towels. Brush the fillets with olive oil on both sides until lightly coated and then sprinkle the fillets with the blackening seasoning and rub in. Coat both sides of the fish in the seasoning.

Place fish on the pan and bake for 20/30 minutes until nicely brown and the fish flakes easily. Time will depend on how thick your fillets are.

To make the tartar sauce, combine all ingredients until mixed well.

Serve with a salad and brown or wild rice topped with sautéed mushrooms.

I hope you enjoy, and as always if you make this please let me know what you think!

P.S.  Please take a look at my reciepes page!  I am so excited to finally have figured out a little bit of HTML and have a nifty professional looking gallery page for my recipes.   It's something I've been doodling with a while and finally found a tutorial that worked for me.   Let me know what you think!