The Elysian Fields

I had a zipped bag of some fresh blueberries I accidentally slightly squished and I had some thawed out catfish. So I thought a little, and I very nearly almost baked them... but I thought "blueberries" and that led to Maine, and that led to maple trees and maple sugar... and I had bacon ends, and bacon naturally goes with maple...

And so here I am, typing this out as I finish off a delicious lunch of that traditional favorite of the Maine blueberry lumber jacks (they often have to cut down the shrubberies with a catfish, of course) that I invented mere moments ago as I cooked it for myself...

Down East Catfish

• catfish fillets, quantity determined by appetites at the meal
• bacon ends, quantity determined by the square inchage of the pan used to cook the fillets
• blueberries, a handful or so per serving
• water, about 1/8 cup per serving
• maple sugar, to taste
• balsamic vinegar, about 1/2 tablespoon per serving

Heat up your cast iron pan.

Cover the cooking surface of the pan with bacon ends (if you're cooking a small fish in a big pan, less bacon ~ yes, I actually said that ~ is in order).

Pour the water into a small saucepan, and turn the heat up high.

Add the balsamic vinegar and melt in the sugar until the sweetness is where you want it.

Toss in the blueberries.

Let the sauce boil a little, turning it down to mid-heat. Stir it fairly frequently.

Cook the bacon until it's about half to mostly done. Think about how much space the fish will take up, and make sure you're not leaving too much to cook once the fish jumps in.

Turn the sauce down to low and keep it warm. Check the sweetness and add more sugar if needed.

Toss the fish in the pan. I like to cook it first with the flat side (inside) up, so that it's more flexible on the convex outer side.

Move any cooked bacon to the top of the fish. You can leave fatty bits on the pan itself so they melt off and deepen the fry.

Cook the fish until half-done, about 3 minutes.

Scrape the bacon off the fish, flip the fish, and get the bacon back up on top.

Finish cooking, about another 3 minutes. If desired, this cooking step can be completed with a 400 degree pre-heated oven. Just toss the pan (which is, of course, cast iron) in the oven for the 3 minutes cooking that the second side needs.

Get the fish on the plate(s), toss the bacon on top of it again, then drizzle the sauce on top of the fish. If desired, you can screen the fruit from the sauce, but that's the best part (along with the whole rest of it, of course) as far as I'm concerned.

Serve immediately.

Despite the fact that Deb can make a baked chicken dish interesting*, she pretty much doesn't consider herself a cook, or capable of cooking, or able to do anything beyond burning boiling water.

It seems that it's in waves that I wind up doing the cooking, and she's been wanting me to do some more.

I did some egg rolls last weekend, and they came out great. Tomorrow night, the New and Improved Recipe will be attempted, and, if it comes out perfect, posted. They're much easier to make then I had expected, although spatter is an issue. I have a spatter guard, but it's for a 12-14" skillet/pan, and not the 6" one I was using to keep the oil quantity both low and deep ~ unfortunately, the oil clung to the parts of the spatter guard outside the pan, dripped, and made nearly as much of a mess as if it had been allowed to splatter everywhere.

Tonight there's some fresh fish ~ cod ~ and it's marinating now in a lemon tarragon sauce. I was thinking about broiling it, but now I'm leaning towards baking it, so I can do the orzo ~ with a light cheesy sauce ~ at the same time.

Maybe a recipe later?

* There aren't very many people capable of that, in my judgement. Not only that, but she can make a fried chicken that is also very good. Me, I have my rosemary chicken and BBQ chicken, and that exhausts my recipes. =)