Pan Fried Catfish and Grits

Topped with Crawfish in Cream Sauce and Kale Chips

Breakfast & Brunch
Lunch
Dinner

My Thoughts

I made this for The Picky Eater not too long ago. I am on a mission to convert the picky one into a grits fan - okay I'll take tolerator at this point. One of the problems is that she can't have shrimp so the classic shrimp and grits is out. I think if that was an option, I could win her over, but alas, no. I think I may have hit a homerun with this one (okay, I'm listening to a Yankees game as I type this).

This has crispy catfish and spicy, a decadent crawfish in Cajun spiced cream sauce, and old-fashioned grits all topped with fresh tomatoes and chives (from the garden) and crispy kale chips for just a little bit of crunch (and to pretend we're being healthy here). What's not to like and with all that to go with it, how can this not win her over to grits - or at least move the needle a little?

Yeah, despite the work, this one's going into regular rotation.

The How To Do It

  1. To create this meal, you'll want to follow the instructions for each of the components.
  2. Bake the kale chips. This can be done in advance, even a couple of days ahead of time.
  3. Make the crawfish and cream sauce. You don't need a lot of crawfish sauce. When I make this, I usually make the crawfish and cream sauce with penne the night before and reserve a cup of the sauce to use in this dish.
  4. Start the grits.
  5. Once you have started the grits (they take about 15 minutes to make and can set warming if necessary), fry the catfish.
  6. While the catfish is frying and the grits are gritting (just kidding, they should be simmering quietly), deseed (this step is important for The Picky Eater with the diverticulitis and all) and dice the tomato.
  7. Give a rough chop on the chives. You don't want any whole leaves.
  8. Once the catfish is fried, crawfish and cream sauce is warmed, and the grits are done it's time to assemble this masterpiece. First, place half of the grits on each of the plates.
  9. Next, place the catfish on top of the grits. Don't just lay them out there, you'll want to spend a little time stacking them. Make the plate look interesting. You've worked hard on this, make sure everyone knows it.
  10. Spoon half the crawfish and cream sauce over the catfish on each plate.
  11. Sprinkle the diced tomatoes and chives over the dish.
  12. Finally, carefully place the kale chips on top of the dish.

Pan Fried Catfish

  1. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat until the fry thermometer reaches 325°. You can go a little higher or lower. Honestly, I usually wait until the oil starts to shimmer and then throw a tester (a small bit of the thing I'm cooking) into the skillet to see if it starts frying.
  2. Mix the garlic powder, pepper, salt, and smoked paprika together in a small bowl.
  3. Mix the cornbread mix and half of the spice/seasoning mix together in a medium bowl.
  4. Rinse and then pat the catfish dry.
  5. Cut the catfish filets into thirds so that you are left with six catfish tenders (for lack of a better word).
  6. Fill a small bowl with purified water (distilled or tap water will work too). Dip each of the tenders into the water, shaking off any excess water, and place them on a plate or plastic cutting board.
  7. Sprinkle the remaining spice mixture over the catfish and be sure to coat each side.
  8. Now dredge the tenders in the cornmeal and starch mixture and carefully place them into the skillet. Flip the catfish about half-way through. It's 5-6 minutes per side, but to be honest I usually just flip when the breading turns golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
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Classic Southern Grits

  1. Mix the water and milk together in a medium sized saucepan.
  2. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the grits, stirring occasionally.
  3. Cover and the pan and let simmer for 15-20 minutes or until thickened. If you want the grits to be looser, add a little more milk.
  4. Mix in the granulated garlic, salt, and pepper.
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Penne with Crawfish and Spinach in Parmesan Cream Sauce

  1. Start by thawing your crawfish tails. I follow the instructions on the packaging. If it says to thaw in the refrigerator you can. If you don't have time to thaw them in the refrigerator, then you can thaw them in the sauce, but more about that later.
  2. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. I usually go ahead and great the Parmesan cheese too. You won't need the cheese for a while, but I like to get it taken care of upfront.
  3. Fill a medium/large sauce pot full of water and start the water boiling. Once it is boiling, add a decent amount of salt to the water (about a table spoon).
  4. Melt the butter, in a large saute pan, over medium heat. Once the butter has melted and has stopped bubbling/foaming add the onions and sweat them until they start to get soft. This should take 4-5 minutes.
  5. Once the onions are soft, add the garlic. Saute the garlic for 2-3 minutes. Don't let it brown or it can get bitter.
  6. When the garlic is nice and fragrant, add the wine and cook it down for about 5 minutes. Once it has reduced by about half your ready for the next step.
  7. Now add the dry seasoning mixture (the recipe is below this one) and stir until all the vegetables are coated with the powder. It should make a thick paste with the butter, wine, and vegetables. Continue to stir the mixture for 1-2 minutes to toast the spices slightly.
  8. Now add the cream and stir/whisk until the seasonings combine with the cream.
  9. Once the cream and spices have combined add 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese and stir until it is melted and completely combined with the cream sauce.
  10. Now add the crawfish tail meat. If you did not have time to thaw them in the refrigerator overnight, you can add them to the sauce frozen. It will take longer, but it's not too bad. Add the block of tails to the sauce and start to break apart with a spoon. As they melt they get easier to separate so don't be too aggressive and start ripping the meat apart. The juices that they are packed in will melt pretty quickly.
  11. Heat the carwfish tails to at least 185° F before moving on to the next step.
  12. At this point I usually add the pasta to the boiling water. Cook it according to the packaging but you will want to take it out about a minute early because it will finish cooking in the sauce.
  13. Wash the spinach and let it dry and then place it in the pan. Stir it into the sauce until it is completely wilted.
  14. Once the pasta is done boiling, reserve 3/4 - 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the sauce, I usually only use about 3/4 of the pasta (I like more pasta-to-sauce what can I say).
  15. Add the pasta water and stir to combine the pasta, water, and sauce.
  16. Ladle the sauce into a bowl and sprinkle some of the remaining Parmesan over it.
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Baked Kale Chips

  1. Preheat your oven to 300° F.
  2. Wash, dry well, and remove the stems of 10 kale leaves and tear them into medium sized pieces (however big you want them).
  3. Place the leaves on a baking sheet, making sure to only put one layer on the sheet. Overcrowding will cause the leaves to steam and never get crispy.
  4. Drizzle them with olive oil. I actually use olive oil cooking spray to coat the leaves.
  5. Sprinkle granulated garlic, salt, and black pepper.
  6. Bake the leaves for 25-30 minutes. I usually check them around the 20-minute mark to make sure they aren't getting crispy too fast. Everyone's oven is a little different, so don't forget about your chips.
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Ingredients

Pan Fried Catfish and Grits
12 chips
Kale Chips
6 tenders
Fried Catfish
4 cups
grits
1 cup
Crawfish in Cream Sauce
1 tomato
Roma tomato
6 lvss
chives
Fried Catfish
2 filets
catfish filet
2 cups
cornbread mix
½ cup
potato starch
1 tbsp
granulated garlic
1 tsp
smoked paprika
2 tbsp
black pepper
2 tbsp
kosher salt
4 cups
vegetable oil
Southern Grits
1 cup
grits
2 cups
whole milk
2 cups
filtered water
1 tsp
granulated garlic
1 tsp
kosher salt
1 tsp
black pepper
Crawfish and Cream Sauce
1 lbs
crawfish tails
1 lbs
penne pasta
1 sml
white onion
4 cloves
garlic
2 cups
baby spinach
2 cups
heavy cream
1 cup
freshly grated parmesan
1 ½ tbsp
spice mix
Baked Kale Chips
10 lvss
curly Kale
1 tbsp
olive oil
1 tsp
granulated garlic
1 tsp
black pepper
1 tsp
kosher salt
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