Blackening With a Skillet

New Orleans Famous Blackened Catfish

This week we're going to the roots, so get your cast iron black skillet ready.

Hi Folks, Welcome to Cooking With Chef Gary,  as always we're coming to you from DeJavu Restaurant at 936 Florida Street in Memphis, Tennessee.  

Today we are gonna do Blackened Catfish; its a dish that we cook in New Orleans and its Famous all over the world.  Its was made famous by Chef Paul Prudhomme' in New Orleans.

We gonna take you right thru this, first we start by getting the cast Iron Skillet very hot.  Then we gonna do our own little dry rub, Tarragon herbs, a little Italian seasonings, oregano and basil, and we gonna put a little Cajun seasoning to coat the fish.

We got out cast iron skillet good and hot with a little olive oil.  The youngsters don't know anything about  this kind of stuff.  You got to be past 40 to know about this and almost country.  Just coat the fish a little with the Cajun seasonings; then use a 5 to 7 lb catfish filleted.  Put the herbs on it.  Take a glance and and see your skillet good and hot, that is how you want it, so the fish goes down sizzling.  

Now we ready to go; next we gonna  then we gonna go with some fresh leaf spinach and some fried plantains.  This always make a great meal at DeJavu.  We want you to come down and try this dish, and we also fry Catfish, so it's no problem, you can have what you want.

Now when the skillet nice and hot, your will hear the sizzle, when you place the fish down, then its okay to put another piece down.

So we got Blackened Catfish, that is coated with Tony Catchers Cajun Seasonings, tarragon herbs,a little basil, and a little oregano and dry rub.   You put that together and man its makes for a wonderful dish.  Its a little olive oil in a cast iron skillet and just let it go.  Cook it about 3-4 minutes on each side, and you have a wonderful dish.

3-4 minutes having pass its time to turn it over right quick.  Check out how beautiful it is, it should be a dark coloring not burnt.  A recap you got the blackening seasoning, and you want to cook it maybe 3-5 minutes on the other side and its ready.

We gonna serve this particular dish with fresh leaf spinach, and then some fried plantains.  Oh Yeah...  So after 5 minutes look at it and you got yourself a wonderful dish; the herbs marinated in them, and olive oil soaked up in there, its gonna be nice and moist.  Just top it off with a little green onions and a lemon and we ready to go in with it.

Plate it up, and next you ready to make the fresh leaf spinach. 

Chef James Moore, also a chef in the kitchen at DeJavu prepares the fresh leaf spinach by starting with about a half cup of water and a bunch of spinach leaves.  We have the water hot in the saute pan, add a little butter, salt and pepper to taste, no butter if you prefer vegan.  The spinach don't take long just a few tosses, and a quick toss, and you're looking good.