Recently, I was having a conversation about cooking seafood. I’m scared of it since it costs so much to experiment with. And we all know I like cheap. But catfish doesn’t intimidate me. It’s technically not even a seafood since it’s a fresh water fish, so maybe that’s why it doesn’t scare me. But if there’s anybody out there that is scared to fry fish . . don’t you sweat any further. If “I” can do it, anybody can do it. It’s really easy and quite delicious.

Growing up in Mississippi back in the day, I had the opportunity to eat a lot of fish. I’m really glad that I like fish, otherwise I would have gone hungry alot. We went fishing almost every single Sunday. The whole family - Mama, Daddy, Brother, Sister, Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy’s Drinkin’ Buddy - it was quite a crew, to put it politely. Redneck can’t quite sum up the description. An accurate picture is far past that. Not as far as Deliverance, but you’re headin’ in the right direction.

My poor mama was always the only sober one of the bunch, therefore the only one sober enough to wield a knife in order to clean the fish. She had it the worst. Us kids just tried to stay out of the way. We didn’t want to go anywhere near an angry (she was angry at the drunks) knife-wieldin’ fish-guttin’ mama. And we definitely wanted to steer clear the drunk daddy, the drunk grandpa, the drunk grandma and the drunk drinkin’ buddy. I had no appreciation for what my mama had to do and what she put up with.

But I did have an appreciation for what she could do with a catfish. Oh how I love me some catfish! Now I don’t catch my own anymore and I most certainly would never ever clean one. I’m too too girly girly for fish guts. There’s a lot of things in this world I do on my own, but I’m afraid gutting a fish isn’t one of them. Again, I really appreciate my mama for doing that.

My mama made awesome fried catfish and I make it from time to time, but my favorite was always the Blackened Catfish. Heck, I like just about anything blackened. I’m a spicy girly girl.

It’s surprisingly easy. Here’s all you need.

Blackened Catfish

1 1/2 Tbl. paprika
1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
4 catfish fillets
2 Tbl vegetable oil

Blend all your spices in a shallow bowl. Rinse the fish fillets and pat them dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture onto both sides of the fish.
Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add catfish fillets and cook for 4 minutes. Carefully flip them over with a large spatula and continue to cook another 3 - 4 minutes. The fish will flake easily with a fork. Drain on paper towel and serve immediately.

Anyone who likes blackened anything will scarf this down. It didn’t last long enough once I took it out of the frying pan to even take a picture. So I’m glad I snapped one while it was frying.