SOMETIMES, THE FISH MARKET HAS SURPRISES

Blackened Catfish Fillets

For a city on the coast, San Francisco has surprisingly limited fresh fish selections in conventional supermarkets.  Salmon fillets, pacific snapper, and several “previously frozen” selections (tilapia, tuna, scallops) are the norm, and they seem to change little over time.  Dungeness crab occasionally shows up fresh for a week or two, but that’s it.  Luckily, we are near a couple of Asian markets, and they are bursting with fresh (and recently caught) whole fish and fillets. Several types of bass, cod, snapper, mackerel, salmon, and other exotic fish (Cobia, Idiot’s Cod, Yellowtail) are always available, with other fish changing as the seasons change. This week has fresh sturgeon available, for example.

However, finding fresh fish fillets is a little more difficult, as most of the fish is either whole or cut into steaks.  We love the Swai (Basia), a sweet fairly-firm white fillet that is routinely available, and cook it with a spicy batter, or with capers, wine, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes.  But last week, I discovered some freshly-made catfish fillets in the offerings, and decided that we needed to try them.  (As it turned out, the fillets were available only that day!)  Sherry suggested that we dust the fish with a spice mix and “blacken” it.

Blackening fish means to coat the fish with spices, then cook the fish on high heat for a short period of time in a light amount of butter or oil.  I made up the following spice mix, cooked the fillets, and we had an incredibly wonderful meal, with sautéed wilted spinach and garlic.

Spice Mix (you can adjust or omit spices as you wish):

2 Tbsp. paprika

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp. smoked paprika

2 catfish fillets

2 Tbsp. canola oil

Directions:

1.    Put all spices in a bowl, and mix well.

2.    Rinse fillets in cold water.  Pat dry with paper towels.

3.    Rub fillets on both sides with spice mixture.

4.    Heat oil in skillet until very hot

5.    Add fillets.  Cook 2 minutes per side.

6.    Serve.