Whitney Miller's Oven-Fried Catfish with Fresh Dill Tartar Sauce

I love the TV show Masterchef!  I have a secret crush on Gordon Ramsey....shhh, don't tell anyone!  Whitney Miller was the first winner of Masterchef and just released her first cookbook."Modern Hospitality:Simple Recipes with Southern Charm".  Recently Whitney made an appearance on Masterchef with several of her recipes for the contestants to try and recreate.  This catfish recipe was chosen for all of them to copy.  It looked so good at the time, so when I got my hands on the cookbook I knew it was one of the first recipes I wanted to try. Whitney's cookbook is beautifully illustrated and her recipes really are simple with an obvious southern flare. The catfish was so yummy and very simple to prepare!

Let's get started:

Catfish

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

4 catfish fillets (about 1/2 pound each)

3/4 cup fine-grind cornmeal

3/4 cup teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed freeze dried chives

Pinch of cayenne pepper

2 tablespoon canola oil

To prepare the fish: Pour the buttermilk into a shallow baking dish. Place the catfish fillets in the buttermilk and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 25 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the cornmeal, onion powder, garlic powder, lemon pepper seasoning, salt, chives, and cayenne in a shallow dish or pie plate.

Pour the oil into a large cast iron skillet and turn to coat the bottom. Place in the oven to heat for 6 minutes.

Working with 1 fillet at a time, shake off the excess buttermilk and dredge in the cornmeal mixture to coat.

Place cornmeal-coated fillets in the preheated skillet. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the fillets and bake until golden brown and crisp, 10-15 minutes (depending on the size of the fillets).

Fresh Dill Tarter Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons stone-ground mustard

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon minced fresh dill

3/4 teaspoon minced fresh chives

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Serve the hot fish with the tarter sauce.

Those are Whitney's bacon wrapped brussels sprouts with the fish and tarter sauce.  See the previous post for that recipe or click on the link provided!  If you like brussels sprouts you are gonna love these!!

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