Jubilee: Catfish Étoufée and Pappadeaux Copycat Dirty Rice

When I got the Jubilee cookbook on a whim, I was not expecting to immediately identify a recipe I wanted to make.  Especially one that I wanted to make pretty much immediately.  But when I saw this catfish étoufée, it was love at first sight.  The recipe is really not hard to make (I was scared to make roux!), and it's absolutely delicious.  This will definitely be a repeat.  I served it with some dirty rice that I cooked up from an old recipe I got from the corners of the internet many many years ago.  Who knows where it originally came from, but it was also pretty good.

Note: I have doctored the dirty rice recipe to bring it more in line with what I remember the actual Pappadeaux version being like.  1) Less cayenne, since the restaurant version isn't that spicy, 2) more salt, since this one was a little bland, and 3) I think more pork next time instead of the gizzards it originally called for, since there's nothing chewy like that in the restaurant version.

Catfish Étoufée
From Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin

1 pound catfish fillets, or any other firm-fleshed white fish, cut into 4-inch pieces
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
½ cup vegetable oil
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup minced onion
2 tablespoons minced green bell pepper
2 tablespoons minced celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 small bay leaf
1½ cups fish stock, warmed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced green onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
Freshly cooked rice

Place the catfish pieces on a plate and dry with a paper towel to help the seasonings adhere to the fish. In a small bowl, combine the cayenne, salt, black pepper, and thyme. Season the fillets with half of the seasoning.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over high heat until sizzling and nearly smoking. Reduce the heat to medium-high. Gradually whisk in the flour until smooth, being careful not to splatter any of the hot roux on your skin. Cook, stirring constantly, until the roux is medium-brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and the remaining seasoning mixture. Return to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the vegetables are softened, about 2 minutes. Gradually stir in ½ cup of the warm fish stock and the tomato paste and stir until the sauce begins to thicken, about 1 minute, then remove from the heat.

In a separate skillet, heat 4 tablespoons of the butter until sizzling. Add the catfish and green onions and cook until the catfish is opaque (it does not need to brown), 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Transfer the fish, the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, and the remaining 1 cup stock to the skillet with the vegetables and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, shaking or stirring the pan constantly to melt the butter and emulsify it into a rich sauce. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Sprinkle the étoufée with the parsley and serve over rice.

Makes 4 servings

Pappadeaux Copycat Dirty Rice

⅓ pound ground chicken livers
⅔ pound ground pork
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons Dirty Rice Seasoning (below)
1 bay leaf
½ cup onion, diced

½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper  
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
2 cups uncooked long grain rice
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups steamed long grain rice

Brown the ground meat mixture in the oil. Stir in the seasoning mixture and the bay leaf, and sauté about one minute. Add the vegetables and sauté 3 to 4 minutes over high heat, stirring frequently. Add the uncooked rice and chicken stock and mix in well. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes. Stir in the steamed rice.

Dirty Rice Seasoning

2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1¼ teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard (such as Coleman's)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
½ teaspoon dried oregano leaves