Cornmeal Fried Catfish, Black-Eyed Pea Salad, Pickled Jalapeno Relish

Cornmeal Fried Catfish over Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Pickled Jalapeno Relish

I've been wanting to play around with some different fried catfish recipes for a while so when I was gifted a Lodge Cast Iron skillet and cookbook as part of a Virtual Potluck blog party, I knew which recipe I needed to try!  The dish titled Cornmeal Fried Catfish over Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Pickled Jalapeno Relish jumped right out at me.  Rather than being fried catfish with more fried stuff, this presented an almost-healthy alternative.  Sure, I would still bread and deep fry the catfish in peanut oil, but at least I didn't throw in sides French fries and hush puppies!  I assembled a group of friends at my buddy Bret's house to test out his remodeled kitchen.  A short while later, a memorable meal emerged!  The Lodge Cookbook provided the recipes for the black-eyed pea salad and jalapeno relish in addition to the catfish itself.  Both were very easy to create and extremely tasty.  The pickled jalapeno relish didn't overpower anything with spiciness and its sweetness made it an interesting garnish.  The black-eyed pea salad which sat underneath the catfish came out bright and full of flavor from the artichoke hearts and red bell pepper.  So the main thing I needed to master quickly became frying the fish!

The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook and My Groceries at Calandro's Supermarket (Win a Cookbook at the bottom of this post!)

After a shopping trip to Calandro's Supermarket to pick up the key ingredients, I arrived at Bret's house and got to work.  The recipe for the catfish itself is what really piqued my curiosity.  It began with sprinkling the fillets with salt and pepper followed by a hefty dash of hot sauce.

Raw Catfish Fillets with Hot Sauce

After covering both sides with salt, pepper, and hot sauce and rubbing it over the fillets, the next step was to dredge the catfish in the dry batter.  The hot sauce helped the batter adhere to the catfish and create an excellent coating for a crispy fish.  This, however, was no ordinary fried fish batter.  It started with equal parts cornmeal and masa harina.  Masa harina is basically the fine corn flour that is used to make the dough for corn tortillas and tamales.  I had never used it before as a fish fry, but I'm sold now.  In addition to the cornmeal and masa harina, I added a decent shaking of Cajun seasoning and seasoned salt.  Then the fillets were tossed in the batter and prepared for their oily bath.

Catfish Fillets in the Cornmeal and Masa Harina Batter

 In a 12 inch Lodge Cast Iron skillet my peanut oil came up to temp at around 375 degrees.  I dropped in catfish fillets two at a time and fried them until they were golden brown.

Catfish Fillets Frying in Peanut Oil in a Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

To plate the dish I spooned a generous portion of the black-eyed pea salad on the middle of a plate.  I then topped the salad with a fresh catfish fillet.  On top of the fish rested a couple spoonfuls of the pickled jalapeno relish.  All in all, this dish really impressed me.  I think the catfish itself stole the show.  I might incorporate masa harina into frying batters much more often.  It delivered a light and crispy batter to the beautifully seasoned catfish.  If you're looking for masa harina, I know Calandro's Supermarket in Baton Rouge has it.  You can also find it at any Latin or Mexican specialty store.

Cornmeal Fried Catfish over Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Pickled Jalapeno Relish

GIVEAWAY:

Want your own copy of the Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook?  Leave a comment on this blog post about what your favorite things to cook in cast iron.  You can go big like a jambalaya in a 30 gallon pot or you could cook cornbread in an 8" skillet.  No matter what, just tell me what you like to cook in cast iron and make sure I can get in touch with you.  One lucky comment will be selected to receive a free copy of the book!

Cafe JoJo's in Morgan City

On a recent trip to the Louisiana Coast I had the pleasure of getting treated to a fantastic dinner at Cafe JoJo's in Morgan City.  The restaurant, which opened its doors in 2003, sits in downtown on the banks of the Atchafalaya River.  Fortunately the levee system saved them from most of the flooding after the Morganza Spillway opened this past summer.  Still reeling from the oil spill over a year ago, the Louisiana seafood industry is currently on a long path to recovery.  Morgan City was at the center of the storm, so to speak, during the whole fiasco.  With an ironically named "Shrimp and Petroleum Festival" as the city's largest annual event, it is easy to understand the strong ties of seafood and oil that bond the community.  I made commentary on the connection between Louisiana and Alaska in an earlier post based on seafood and oil, and thanks to Exxon and BP, the coastal communities became even more connected in a tragic way.

Dinner at Cafe JoJo's began with a fried crab cake in an artichoke and corn sauce.  The cake itself came packed with fresh Louisiana crab.  The artichoke and corn sauce impressed me as it had both an intriguing uniqueness  and an excellent taste to go along with the crab.

Course two saw an Oyster Rockefellar bisque.  While I admire the idea of turning a classic dish into a soup, this happened to be the only course that didn't overly satisfy me.  The fried oysters in the creamy bisque felt out of place and left an odd texture.  However, the flavor of the soup still had me eating the entire cup.  Maybe I'm just a fat ass.

The Cafe JoJo's staff brought out the third course.  A delicious seafood crepe came out loaded with shrimp and crab and smothered in an amazing buttery, creamy herb sauce.  I gobbled the crepes up in record time.  They had a great savoriness to match the sweetness of the seafood.  

By the time the fourth course came out almost everybody at the table had already gotten full.  Not me.  I knew what I had in store and I got my second stomach ready.  The main entree featured a grilled Louisiana redfish filet with green beans topped with an intoxicating pesto-chardonnay sauce.  The dish is one that I'd love to recreate at some point.  While the meal as a whole just continued to get heavier and heavier with butters and creams, this dish and this sauce stood out on their own.  I loved every bite of it and needed extra bread to soak up the sauce that remained abandoned on my plate.

And naturally, no meal is complete without dessert.  I tasted the turtle cheesecake (front and center), the bread pudding (far left), and my favorite, the homemade Chantilly cream (top right).  The cream had a light fluffiness that ideal rounded out the heavy meal.  I managed to have a few bites before bringing the rest back to the hotel with me.  All in all, Cafe JoJo's served up an outstanding and memorable meal, and I'd be happy to return any time I dine in Morgan City.

LCI's Race to Cannes Final: Jeremy Campbell vs Bryan Poche

Jeremy Campbell (left) and Bryan Poche went head to head in the finals of the Louisiana Culinary Institute's Race to Cannes cooking competition.  When I judged Round 2, groups 3 and 4 earlier in the competition, I actually helped score both Jeremy and Bryan to victory.  Seeing both of them in the final got my mouth watering before I even knew what was on the menu!

Jay Ducote and the other judges prepare to be well fed

The chefs knew they would be working with the three main ingredients of Louisiana Pompano, Jerusalem Artichokes, and Fresh Fennel.  However, just before the start of the competition, both chefs were given the mystery ingredients of Smoked Mussels, Raw Pecans, Crab Butter (crab roe), and Assorted Fresh and Dried Chilies.  Both chefs were tasked with incorporating all of the ingredients into either their appetizer or entrée as a full ingredient, not just a garnish.  I love the added level of difficulty for the finals!

Judges taste Bryan's appetizer

Bryan Poche's "Creole Stewed Octopus and Fried Grits"

Bryan presented what he called a "unique play on the ever popular shrimp and grits."  He was certainly right about that!  The dish featured some morsels of octopus that had been slow-cooked in a bath of tomatoes, chilies, and more.  To add a little something extra to the grits, he molded them and then coated the grits with a batter before frying them to crunchy golden exterior.  I love the extremely creative play on a popular dish, as well as the balls he had to use octopus in his dish.  Everything tasted great, and I think the chilies he had to use as a mystery ingredient added a nice touch.  The one critique that I made was that the dish looked like a bit of a monochromatic mess on the plate.  I would have liked too see a few different colors or even a green garnish to balance out all the red and orange.

Judges try Jeremy's Salad

Jeremy Campbell's "Braised Squid with Warm Arugula Salad

Jeremy's appetizer consisted of a salad.  However, this was no ordinary salad.  Rather than fry his squid like so many others, he braised it in red wine and served it over warm Arugula tossed with lemon and black pepper vinaigrette.  He also added some pecans in order to use a mystery ingredient and provide a little extra crunch.  Each bite of the salad left me thoroughly impressed.  The fact that the Arugula was served warm and slightly wilted added to the unique factor.  Still, the highlight of the dish easily came from the beautifully cooked squid with that gorgeous purple color after it had been braised in red wine.  Compliments to the chef, for sure!

Jay Ducote readies himself for the main courses.

Bryan Poche's "Crabmeat Stuffed Pompano

My highest rated dish came from the plate of food that I would have most likely ordered again... or tried to cook for myself.  Bryan described his inspiration as taking two things he loved and putting one inside the other.  And why not put a crab cake inside a piece of fried fish??  He topped the expertly fried Pompano, which isn't usually a frying fish due to its oily nature, with a mixture of artichoke, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and pepper jack cheese.  The colors in the entree worked far better than they did in his appetizer.  However, the sunchoke gratin left a little to be desired.  It tasted slightly undercooked and a little bland, but still managed to be pretty good.  To wrap up the plate, the braised fennel that Bryan served had to have been the best fennel I've ever had.  The texture, color, and taste were all spot-on.  The dish as a whole really impressed both my eyes and taste buds!

Judges taste the Race's final dish

Jeremy Campbell's Pompano Bouillabaisse

Our final dish came from Jeremy and it packed some heat.  He plated a pompano bouillabaisse which featured fresh pompano simmered in white wine, sherry and tomatoes served over Louisiana popcorn rice.  The broth also included some chilies and smoked mussels from the mystery ingredients that added a really unique flavoring to the bouillabaisse.  Adding even more complexity to the stock, Jeremy added some brown sugar to round out the smokiness and heat.  Everything tasted spectacularly rich and it became difficult to put the fork down.  I would have liked to see some contrasting texture, but other than that, this dish proved to be a serious winner.

In fact, it did carry Jeremy on to the victory.  Scores as whole were extremely close, but Jeremy pulled out the win, and with it a trip to be part of the culinary team at the Cannes Film Festival in France.  I'd like to congratulate both Jeremy and Bryan on a job well done.  The Race to Cannes is a fantastic culinary competition and I can see plenty growth in its future.  To learn more about everything going on at the Louisiana Culinary Institute, check out their website at www.louisianaculinary.com!

Ruffino's Oscar Night Wine Dinner

Ruffino's has an annual tradition of rolling out their own red carpet to host an Oscar Night Wine Dinner.  I received an invitation to join in on this evening of Hollywood cheer and to watch the Academy Awards in style.  Naturally, I couldn't pass that up!  We were treated to fantastic wine, a sensational dinner, and a wait staff (as well as Ruffin Rodrique himself) dressed up as a cast of characters from the movies.  I knew right away that this would be an evening worth blogging about!

Ruffin Rodrigue did his best "King's Speech" Impression

The meal began with the "Mad Hatter's Tea Party".  This round of walking the carpet, clinking glasses, and finger foods got the night at Ruffino's kicked off before the Academy Awards began.  All guests were served plenty of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc to go with the hors d'oeuvres.  The mild and fruity New Zealand wine proved to be an excellent choice to start the dinner and pair with the Tea Party courses.

The "Caterpillar's Mushrooms" combined crawfish and cheese to brilliantly stuff a mushroom cap.  These bite-sized appetizers delivered plenty of flavor that paired nicely with the wine.  Also served with the Tea Party were some crab meat stuffed, deep fried artichoke hearts.  Being served above by a character from "The Fighter", the stuffed artichokes were my favorite of the appetizers. Finally, the red carpet came to a close with some Tea Party sandwiches of smoked salmon and cucumber.  As inventive and interesting as they were, the sandwiches were my least favorite of the starters.  The red carpet had wrapped up and we were on to the Oscars.  My taste buds readied themselves for the rest of the show.

The formal dinner part of the evening began with a "King's Speech" inspired dish: King Salmon with the Crown Jewels.  The plate featured a pair of New Zealand King Salmon Roulade cooked in the trendy sous-vide style.  For those unaware of this method of cooking, in French it literally translates to "under vacuum."  The meat (or salmon in this case) is enclosed in a vacuum sealed bag then cooked in water that maintains a certain temperature.  This constant heat at a regulated and typically lower temperature than traditional cooking is said to maintain the integrity of the ingredients.  The King Salmon rolls were then placed atop Beluga lentils with roasted chicken jus and parsley puree.  The salmon turned out rich and flavorful.  The lentils underneath had plenty of texture to them, which I really liked compared to overly cooked down lentils.  Overall, this dish exceeded expectations and left a smile on my face... as did the accompanying wine.  The King's Salmon came paired with a 2007 Simi Chardonnay.  This California white wine featured some tropical fruit with oak flavors.  My first taste had notes of grapefruit and pear... but what do I know?  I can definitely say that it did not come across as an overly sweet Chardonnay, which I certainly like.  It worked for me, but I quickly prepared myself for the upcoming glasses of my preferred red wine varietals.        

"True Grit" made an appearance at the Oscars as well as at the Ruffino's Wine Dinner.  The above plate represents the Rooster Cockburn Cacciatore with True Grits.  The free range organic chicken thighs were stewed in a San Marzano tomato, red wine, and porcini mushroom sauce and served over creamy Mascarpone polenta.  Poured along side the dish was a 2007 Wild Horse Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara.  I loved the idea of pairing chicken and polenta with red wine. The thigh itself had a great flavor but ended up just a little dry in the middle.  With the chicken being stewed I certainly wasn't expecting to be even the slightest amount dry.  Still, the moistness of the sauce and polenta made up for it and the dish as a whole worked very well.  It certainly seems a little risky to serve bone-in chicken thighs in a fine dining setting, but I'd say that the Chef Peter Sclafani managed to pull it off.  As I said earlier, I really liked the bold pairing of red wine with chicken and polenta.  The Wild House Pinot had a bold and spicy profile that I felt worked really well with the dish.  I certainly would not have been shy about going back for more if there wasn't another course already on the way.

Wrapping up the entree portion of the menu, Ruffino's turned to "The Fighter".  The dish, titled "Black and Blue" Steak, onion "rings", "3 rounds" of zucchini, paired with a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Robert Mondavi in Napa.  Though typical, I love beef and cab.  It is hard to go wrong.  Bold with bold.  Bring it.  Winning.  The blackened Sterling Silver filet mignon was cooked to an ideal medium rare and topped with a blue cheese glacage.  Some buttermilk battered crispy onion strings complimented the sauteed zucchini slices.  The spice rub on the steak intrigued me on first bite.  I went back for another.  I couldn't quite wrap my tongue around it.  While delicious, the blacken seasonings and blue cheese took away from the superiority of the beef.  I took another bite.  It grew on me.  I didn't love it, but I certainly wasn't opposed to it either.  Fork to mouth once again.  Well, why stop now, I thought.  Sip of wine.  Insert delicious zucchini round.  Back to the steak.  The dish fought me.  I fought back.  The spice rub may have been a bit much, and blue cheese glacage may have been over the top, but dammit, I ate every bit.  I won.  KO.  Fourth round. Ding ding ding.

Oh, and then there was dessert.  "Black Swan" delivered the final course: swan shaped profiteroles filled with white and dark chocolate mousse, raspberry sauce, and mixed berries.  Creative, delicious, and well played.  The wine dinner managed to successfully incorporate a handful of the year's best movies into the themes of their dishes.  The swan profiteroles may have been the most direct and obvious, but there's nothing wrong with that.  The dessert came with a glass of Magnificat by Fransiscan.  The Magnificat is a red wine blend from Napa that is mostly Merlot and Cab.  While not a true dessert wine like what I would expect with a final course, the Magnificat stood tall against the swans and continued to be my beverage of choice until the Oscars went off the air.  

"King's Speech" won best picture while "The Social Network" racked up its fair share of awards as well.  I'm really glad that Natalie Portman won for Best Actress.  Anybody that watched "Black Swan" and thinks somebody else should have won, please explain yourself!  I'd like to thank Ruffino's for having me as a guest at their Oscar Night Wine Dinner.  Ruffin and his crew put on a great show in the front of the house and Chef Peter provided an amazing feast to go with the entertainment.  What a night on the red carpet!