Catfish is a marine fish belonging to the perciformes family, its tender, very fatty meat differs from the meat of any other fish in its translucent watery consistency, has a slightly sweet taste, and there are practically no bones in its steaks. Unfortunately, few people have this glorious fish in their diet - because of the supposedly “complicated” preparation of it. And completely in vain. You need to know how to cook a catfish, use some tricks, and this fish unsurpassed in taste will become one of your culinary preferences.
Indeed, if, not knowing how to cook a catfish, try to fry it in a pan in the most usual way - it will most likely simply “spread out”. Undoubtedly, this fish is best suited for baking in the oven, but experienced chefs are not limited to a single recipe, and real culinary masterpieces come out of their hands. The catfish is cooked on the grill, steamed, fried in batter, it makes amazing pilaf, pie, meatballs, fries, soup and many more different dishes for every taste and preference. Below are some recipes and tips on how to cook catfish.
Risotto Catfish with Pomegranate
Ingredients:
- catfish fillet (peeled);
- one pomegranate (ripe);
- rice - 350 g;
- broth (vegetable) - one liter;
- one small onion;
- butter - 50 g;
- dry champagne;
- pepper;
- salt;
- dill.
Cooking:
- Before you prepare a catfish according to this recipe, first garnet is carefully separated, half the grains are passed in a blender, the juice is filtered.
- Onion finely chopped and put it in a pan in which 30 g of butter is melted, stew.
- Half of the prepared catfish fillet is cut into medium-sized pieces, added to the pan along with rice. Keep on fire for about a minute, stirring occasionally.
- Pour pomegranate juice and quite a bit of champagne. Allow the liquid to evaporate over high heat.
- Pour in the broth (a couple of ladles). Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and leave until rice is fully cooked, add a little broth as needed.
- In a frying pan melt the remaining oil, put the second half of the fillet in it, salt, season with pepper and add champagne (a little). Stand for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Remove from heat and pour in the remaining pomegranate seeds, leaving a little for decoration.
- To the finished dish add a little chopped dill, catfish from the pan, gently stir. Risotto is laid out on portioned plates, decorated with pomegranate and dill.
How to cook catfish in the oven?
Ingredients:
- catfish (filet) - 2.5 kg;
- hard cheese - 0.3 kg;
- mayonnaise - 0.5 l;
- three onions.
Cooking:
- The fish is thawed, washed and dried with an ordinary paper towel.
- Cut catfish in large portions.
- Grate cheese, mix it with mayonnaise and pre-chopped onions.
- Sliced pieces of fish are placed in the prepared mixture, mixed gently and left for 20 minutes to marinate the fillet.
- Then the fish is laid out in a special baking dish and sent to a preheated oven to 190 ° C and baked until cooked.
Catfish Pie
Before you prepare a catfish, or rather a pie with this fish, the following ingredients are stocked:
- catfish (filet) - half a kilogram;
- dough (yeast-free) - half a kilogram;
- 2-3 potato tubers;
- oil (vegetable) - 3 tbsp. l .;
- one onion;
- salt and pepper to taste.
Cooking Tips:
- The dough is divided into two equal parts. Lubricate the form with vegetable oil and spread one part of the dough, then a thin layer of chopped raw potatoes.
- Season with pepper and salt.
- Pieces of catfish sprinkled with pepper and salt are laid, finely chopped onions are placed on top.
- Lightly pour oil and cover with the remaining rolled dough cake.
- Pinch the pie around the edges and leave for 20 minutes in a warm place.
- Next, put the fish cake in an oven heated to 200 ° C until fully cooked, after making the punctures with a fork on top. Served to the table.
Bon Appetit!