Strawberry Catfish

Not Having made any culinary contributions is a while, I offer up this upscale, down home dish. For those of you who are familiar with catfish, this will - I'm willing to bet, become one of your favorite ways to enjoy this wonderful fish. For those who have not yet enjoyed catfish, what a wonderful introduction this will be. The recipe originally used cornmeal and white flour to bread the fish, after several substitutions, I settled on almond meal and whole wheat flour. For those who are fastidious with their carbs, you can use just almond flour, or mix almond flour and carb quick mix. My Favorite oil for frying catfish is rendered bacon drippings, but a cooking grade of olive oil also works just fine. No need to waste good, expensive, extra virgin olive oil here.

Serves 4
2 Lbs Catfish
3 tbsp soy sauce
4oz Strawberry Jam - I use polaner all fruit
2 tbsp hot sauce
2 tsp horseradish
4oz red wine vinegar
2 oz marinara sauce
1 tsp crushed garlic
6oz Whole Wheat Flour
6oz Almond Meal
1 tbsp Cajun Seasoning
oil for cooking - about half a cup
Salt and pepper

Place catfish in large shallow dish, season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce on both sides. Cover and place in fridge for at least one hour, upto over night. In sauce pan combine Jam, vinegar, soy sauce, horseradish, marinara, and garlic. Simmer over med low heat till jam has melted and sauce is warm. Combine flour, almond meal, and cajun seasoning in shallow plate. Heat cooking oil in heavy skillet to med high heat. Dredge fish pieces in flour mixture, coating evenly, and place in skillet. Saute the fish until brown on both sides and fish is done. Drain fish when done. To serve, divide sauce onto 4 plates and top with fish. Garnish with extra strawberries if you have them.