This is a tasty reduced fat fried fish recipe. It is not really Emeril Lagasse’s recipe, but maybe the way he would cook catfish if he was doing a low fat version. Works very well with catfish, but also with cod or any firm white fish.

Safflower oil is not a requirement, canola or peanut oil are reasonable substitutes. Safflower oil is quite heat resistant and makes clean up of the pan easier afterward. By the way, a hint on clean up. You will inevitably get some varnish forming when you do oven fries, that yellow sticky oxidized oil that is impossible to clean off stainless steel. Just spray the pan with some fume free oven cleaner and set it aside. Next morning, all that gunk will wipe off easily, no need to to scrub or scrape with harsh metal pads.

Ingredients

1 lb catfish fillets
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Emeril’s Essence
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup soy milk
2 tbsp safflower oil

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 500° F.

Mix the egg and milk, beat well.

Mix the dry ingredients in a zip lock bag.

Coat the fish by shaking one fillet at a time in the bag, and lay the coated fillets out on a plate. One by one, dip them in the egg/milk mix and shake them in the cornmeal/bread crumb mix to coat a second layer.

Heat the safflower oil in a large oven proof stainless steel skillet until it is hot but not close to smoking. Place the fillets in the skillet and fry on one side for 1 minute. Turn the fillets over and fry the other side, also for one minute. Place the whole skillet in the hot oven and bake for 5 minutes.

Take out (carefully not to burn yourself!) and serve immediately.

Nutrition

6 servings