Pan seared catfish

Good morning, everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  Today is my husband's birthday, so I figured I would do this post on one of his favorite suppers.  Catfish.  We usually have broiled blackened catfish, but this time I wanted to do something different, so I pan seared it in a cast iron skillet, and we really loved how it turned out!

The best part of cooking fish is that it comes together so quickly for supper!  You can't even cook rice in the time that most fish cooks up.  So, really, that works beautifully for a quick week night meal.  Even better, here in the South, catfish is almost always on sale!  You know how I feel about a deal!  When I find a good deal on some catfish, I tend to stock up, because we eat it fairly often.

Lets get started; the sooner we go over this, the sooner we can dig in!

Here's the grocery list for this one:

2-3 catfish fillets

2 Tbs canola oil

2 Tbs unsalted butter

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Kosher salt

Lemon slices, for garnish

Since this comes together so quickly, this is going to be a quick post today!  To start off with, sprinkle both sides of your fish (I only had two fillets here; if you had 3 fillets, you'll want to up your garlic powder and Kosher salt to 3 tsp each) with your garlic powder, and salt; 1/2 tsp per side.

Pop these back into the fridge for up to eight hours; once you're ready to cook these, pull them out of the fridge about 15 minutes.  In order to get a good sear on these, you'll want to dry them off with paper towels before you put them into the preheated (over medium high heat) cast iron skillet.

When you preheat your skillet, put the oil in first, then after a minute or so, add in the butter.  This way the butter won't burn, and the oil won't get heated to the point of smoking.  If you're using cast iron, it will preheat in just a couple of minutes, so don't walk away from this.  Carefully lay your fish in, and cook about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown and delicious!

Once your fish has cooked, lay it out on some paper towels for just a minute, to take off any extra oil and butter.  I like to serve this up with some steamed veggies, and microwave corn on cob, or, really, any number of sides!  This is a pretty flexible supper!  Dig in!