Catfish Sandwiches with No-Mayo Tartar Sauce

First things first: while I'm not a total hater when it comes to mayonnaise, particularly when either (a) it's homemade, or (b) it's mixed with so many things you can't actually taste it, I don't love it, I frequently don't have it on hand, and if a recipe allows for it, I'll substitute olive oil, yogurt, or cream cheese. Generally I really like housemade tartar sauce at restaurants, however, so I figured I'd go ahead and follow this four-fork-winning mayo-based tartar sauce recipe from Epicurious.com. But then I didn't have mayo. And I didn't have like half the ingredients. So the tartar sauce recipe that I used and which is typed up below is really the result of necessary resourcefulness, not an attempt to improve the original, which is, quite frankly, probably better. Having said that, my yogurt version was not bad. So if you're out of or oppose mayo, this is for you.

Anyway, this was a good weeknight meal. There's nothing sensational about catfish, but it's inexpensive and I wanted fish the night we made these. I cleaned my plate and MC went for seconds.

Those are its selling points. It's good in a simple way. But not exceptional a la chocolate caramel tart or best-ever nachos.

Cornmeal & Potato Chip Crusted Catfish

Adapted from Kitchen Sense by Mitchell Davis

Yield: enough catfish for 3-4 sandwiches

3/4 to 1 pound catfish (2 medium sized fillets)

1/2 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup potato chip crumbs (mine were salt & pepper flavored and I think that added something)

Salt & pepper (I omitted this because of flavored chips)

1 egg

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup bacon fat, lard, unsalted butter, vegetable oil, or combination (I used the rest of the sausage drippings from brunch and some butter)

Rinse the catfish with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. (Unless you don't have paper towels, then you can just skip this step...) On a plate, combine the cornmeal, potato chip crumbs, salt and pepper (if using), and mix well. In a small bowl, beat the egg with 1 tablespoon cold water and a pinch of salt. On another plate, pour the flour and spread out so it covers most of the plate. Dredge the catfish fillets in the flour and tap off any excess. Dip them in the egg and then coat both sides in the cornmeal mixture. Set aside.

In a large frying pan, heat the fat over medium-high heat. When quite hot, add the catfish. Fry until the undersides of the fillets are nicely browned around the edges and crisp, about 6 minutes. With a large spatula, carefully flip the catfish and fry until brown and cooked through, another 5 minutes or so. When done, let cool on a plate for a minute or two before assembling your sandwiches.

Yogurt-Based Tartar Sauce

Adapted from Epicurious

Yield: about 3/4 cup

1/2 cup plain yogurt

2-3 tablespoons finely chopped pickles

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

2 tablespoons drained capers

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

dash of Worcestershire sauce and dash of Sriracha

salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything and adjust salt & pepper to your liking. Place in refrigerator for an hour or more to let flavors marry a bit.

For sandwiches

White bread or hamburger buns

Lettuce

Tomatoes, but only if they are really fresh and delicious

Pepper jack or other cheese of choice or convenience

Assemble and enjoy!

An Experiment in Decadence: Chocolate Caramel Tart

For my husband's birthday dinner last week - remember that? the one where we ate nachos? again? with homemade refried beans? yes, that one. - I wanted to make a fancy dessert. The dude doesn't need much to be impressed, and he would have appreciated some brownies if that's all I could throw together that day. But I really like him. And I wanted him to know that. So I tried something fancy. And I'm so glad I did.

That there is chocolate caramel tart. An experiment in decadence. An exercise in ambition and patience. A labor of love. Heaven with a side of wholelottasugar and sprinklingoffleurdesel.

Or, more aptly: YUM.

It was great. You should all make it if you like rich, super sugary desserts with a little salt to temper the sweetness, in fashion of 112 eatery's infamous, spectacular, and controversial Butterscotch Budino. It takes a long time because there are several steps and my caramel didn't really turn the amber color it was supposed to, but the recipe is unexpectedly forgiving in several respects, and the end result, even with a light-colored, somewhat crystallized caramel filling, was delicious.

But before we get to the recipe, let's talk a little more about "fancy" baking. I'm not a baker. I am afraid of yeast and springform pans and cold butter cut into small pieces and frosting that does not involve cream cheese and powdered sugar and recipes that require you to gauge doneness by a change in color or approximate temperature. You can never trust the example colors in a jpeg and my wrist can handle hotter substances than most people's wrists can. (And anyway what is the appropriate means of testing warm milk from a measuring cup with your wrist? It's not like you can dip.) The precision and carefulness that baking requires is sort of at odds with my kitchen style (and personality, for that matter). So I generally stick to easy, reliable cakes, brownies, cookies, muffins, et cetera. Furthermore, my experimentation with caramel - the most important aspect of this tart! - has had mixed results. See Sticky Toffee Pudding post. So this recipe was a big risk for me, what with its multiple steps, including rolling, chilling and caramelizing. Hence my referral to it as an experiment in ambition and patience. It took me half a day. It is not like baking a cake or cookies. Having said that, there is more room for error and modification within this little recipe than I anticipated, and who knew that chocolate ganache was like the easiest thing ever, and, even though I don't have a tart pan (I do, however, have an Amazon wishlist!), the tart was still attractive, albeit slightly more rustic than what I was going for. (Note in the third picture below the creases in the crust from my makeshift tart pan: a springform pan lined with foil on the inside. Why I didn't I line it on the outside instead? No idea. Hindsight is 20/20, eh? Thank heavens we have charming euphemisms like "rustic" in our vocabulary when things end up a bit sloppy!)

I got the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, Lottie + Doof. I am going to reprint his recipe pretty much verbatim, as that's what I used, but I've included a few additional comments based on my experience with this thing of rustic beauty.

Chocolate Caramel Tart

Adapted (barely! unintentionally!) from Lottie + Doof > Claudia Fleming > Marlow & Sons > Saveur

Yield: a big tart which you will want to slice v. thinly (I'd say about 12-14 slices)

For chocolate crust

1 stick (1/2 cup / 8 tablespoons / 4 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

For caramel

1/2 cup water

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 stick (1/2 cup / 8 tablespoons / 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into a few chunks

2 tablespoons crème fraîche

For ganache - the easy part!

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 ounces extra bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used the whole 4-oz Ghirardelli's 70% cacao bar, while the original recipe called for only 3.5 oz chocolate - seemed to work fine)

Also: extra flour for rolling and fleur de sel for sprinkling

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using paddle attachment, cream butter and powdered sugar until combined, about 1 minute. Add egg yolk and vanilla, and beat until smooth. Sift in flour and cocoa powder and beat on low speed until just combined. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form it into a disk. Wrap disk and chill for about an hour.

After chilling, preheat oven to 325 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll the tart dough into a large circle that will line your entire tart pan. Transfer the dough to a 10" fluted tart pan with a removable bottom (or whatever else you have to work with) and press into pan. (E-N commentary: Tim from Lottie + Doof says that you can just push the dough back together in the pan if it falls apart. I just want to clarify that, since he went ahead and mentioned this, I feel like the fact that my dough fell apart completely is not an indication of a misstep on my part. It is just not a v. tacky or sticky dough, and it's chilled, so it's hard, and thus hard to work with. Mine was totally patchworked together. I was nervous that it wouldn't work or that it would fall back apart once baked, but it didn't. It was a wonderful, cookie-like crust and I am going to make it again and try it with all kinds of other fillings.) Chill the crust in the tart pan for 30 minutes. (This makes me wonder if the first hour of chilling was necessary at all. Any insight would be much appreciated.)

Remove crust from refrigerator and prick all over with a fork. Line with parchment paper filled with dried beans (or pie weights if you're fancy) and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and beans and bake until the pastry looks dry and set, about 5-8 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool.

Now on to the caramel... Place 1/2 cup water in a large saucepan. Add sugar and corn syrup, and cook mixture over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally until it becomes a dark-amber color, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and carefully add the heavy cream, followed by the butter and crème fraîche. Stir until smooth. Pour the caramel into the cooled tart crust and allow to set, first at room temperature and then in the refrigerator. (E-N: This whole process looked a lot different in my kitchen. There was no darkening within ten minutes, or even fifteen minutes. I suspect, in retrospect, that I did not have the heat high enough. Because the recipe did not expressly mention that it was okay for the mixture to boil, I deliberately kept the heat low so that it did not boil. Amidst what I thought was going to be a terrible failed attempt at making caramel, I did a bunch of e-research and learned that boiling is (at least in some recipes) integral to the caramelization process. (So is a candy thermometer, evidently.) I stopped cooking my water-sugar-syrup mixture as soon as it was beige, basically, and added the other ingredients. The mixture was pale and slightly lumpy, completely unlike the pictures, and I was certain it would never solidify enough to be topped with ganache. So I put the whole thing back on the stove and cooked and boiled and vigorously stirred the mixture for about thirty or forty minutes, until it was what I'll call "light amber" in color and my arm was v. sore. At that point, I was tired and frustrated, and the caramel had thickened to a nice-enough consistency, so I decided I was fine with my work product and went ahead and dumped it into the crust. It set quickly and I moved it into the refrigerator within about fifteen minutes.)

Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for a minute or two. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. (E-N: The ganache, following the caramel debacle, was refreshingly simple. Why don't we eat ganache more often?) Pour the ganache over the cooled caramel filling and refrigerate until set.

Remove the tart from the refrigerator 5-10 minutes before serving. Cut the tart into slices and sprinkle each with fleur de sel (or whatever inexpensive substitute you are comfortable using).

I hope recounting my caramel experience did not in any way undermine how excellent this recipe is. I loved it and will make it again. Next time, however, I will have a candy thermometer nearby and will be unafraid of high heat.

I Heart (Easy) Salads

I really do. From May through October, my husband and I eat salad pretty much every day because we have to to make a dent in the CSA produce overflowing in our refrigerator. During those months, I probably don't talk with too much enthusiasm about said salads. In fact, I might complain about them.

And that's why I'm posting about salads today. The weather is warming up here in Minneapolis, we can smell spring in the air, our early season greens are going to be available before we know it, and I am actually looking forward to that!

Maybe where you live, greens are already available. (Actually the greens pictured above are from Wisconsin, but I assume they are greenhouse grown.) Maybe you need some simple salad ideas to help you work your way through those neverending heads of lettuce or bags of mixed herbs and greens. So here I am, at your service.

The salad of which we have some variation almost every day is almost embarrassingly easy: greens + dried fruit of some sort + sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds + dressing. But if we throw some fresh fruit in it for color, some herbs to add a little depth to the greens, and top it off with a subtle, vinegary dressing, it's generally presentable and tasty enough to share with your friends. So below is my formula, which you can take or leave as you wish, but I'm betting you'll take it at least a couple of times if you have a CSA membership this summer.

Formula for a Good, Simple Salad

• Mixed greens or spinach or chopped romaine
• Fresh torn up herbs (basil, cilantro and mint are our usuals)
• Fresh, seasonal fruit, sliced or diced (pears and oranges are featured above)
• Something crunchy: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, nuts if you're not allergic, chopped carrots, radishes (featured above), slightly steamed asparagus, if it's in season
• Something with a little more texture and substance, if this is your main course or if your main course is light: legumes, lentils, avocado, homemade croutons, shrimp or chicken, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts
• Toss everything with salt, pepper, ground flaxseed and/or nutritional yeast before dressing
• Dressing - using formula below, shake everything in a jar or whisk it all in a measuring cup

Dressing Formula 1 (kind of sweet, good with fruits and seeds or nuts)

Equal parts olive, grapeseed or flaxseed oil + red wine or balsamic or champagne or some sort of flavored vinegar + fruit preserves. In place of fruit preserves, you could use honey or maple syrup or agave nectar, in which case you will want to use less than an equal part, probably more like half.

Examples: 1 T olive oil + 1 T white balsamic vinegar + 1 T fig preserves; 1 T flaxseed oil + 1 T strawberry champagne vinegar + 2 teaspoons agave nectar

Dressing Formula 2 (mustardy-herb vinaigrette, good for heartier, main course salad with legumes and croutons or smaller, simple herb and veggie salad)

Equal parts olive, grapeseed or flaxseed oil + red wine or balsamic vinegar or lemon juice

1/2 part dijon mustard

1/2 part chopped fresh herbs (basil, oregano, marjoram, tarragon) or 1/4 part dried herbs

optional additions: chopped sun-dried tomatoes, capers, minced garlic, minced onion

Examples: 2 T olive oil + 2 T red wine vinegar + 1 T mustard + 1 t dried marjoram + 1 T capers; 2 T grapeseed oil + 2 T lemon juice + 1 T mustard + chopped basil, oregano and sun-dried tomatoes + 1 clove minced garlic

Seriously. We eat some variation of this almost every day. And at least for the first month or two, we enjoy it!

Stepping it up a notch: Homemade Refried Beans

So even though I said in my nachos post that I couldn't make nachos for my husband's birthday because we already served nachos to the people that were coming over for the birthday dinner, it turns out that nachos were his heart's only birthday desire. And when my husband actually expresses a true birthday wish, I can't refuse. It happens like never. So last night we had nachos.

BUT! I knew I had to step it up a notch, so this time, in lieu of Amy's Vegetarian Refried Beans with Green Chiles, I made refried beans from scratch. Oh you heard me. From scratch! I grew the beans and everything! Just kidding. I don't grow things, except babies and thighs, but I did make refried beans from dried beans and they were great. And way less intimidating than I'd imagined.

As far as photographic documentation is concerned, well, I really tried. But refried beans are not the hit that they are because they're pretty.

There's my best shot. Literally. They look like... refried beans.

Homemade Refried Beans

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Yield: about 4 cups (which is way more than you need to put on nachos for eight people!)

1 pound dried pinto beans

1 bay leaf

3 quarts water

3 tablespoons bacon fat/lard/olive oil (I used the fat from the sausage I cooked for Aunt Judy's Egg Casserole on Saturday)

4-5 green onions, white and pale green parts finely chopped

2 jalapenos, finely chopped (remove seeds if you want the spice to be milder (like me))

1/2 teaspoon cumin

salt & pepper

1/2 cup water (or maybe broth if you have some lying around?)

cilantro

juice from half a lime

Rinse and drain the dried beans. Place the beans and bay leaf in a large pot or dutch oven and cover with three quarts water. Bring to boil. You will hear a weird noise that I have never heard before when I've cooked beans - it is the beans jumping. Seriously. I am not sure if this is a unique characteristic of pinto beans (perhaps the reason for the phrase "Mexican jumping bean"?) or if it happens to other kinds of beans too when there is no pre-soak involved (I have never not pre-soaked dried beans before), but either way, it's sort of interesting (at least if you are me, and you stay home with your baby, and you sometimes watch Full House reruns on ABC Family to add a little dialogue to your day). Once the water boils, lower heat to simmer, cover, and cook for 2-1/2 hours. (As in "two and a half." Or 2.5. Just making sure my font is not misleading in any way.)

After about 2.5 hours go by, check the beans, they should be sort of peeling a bit and v. soft. Drain them. Add your fat of choice to the pan and add green onions and jalapenos. Cook and stir over medium heat until soft (2-3 minutes) and then add the beans back into the pan. Add the cumin, and a good few shakes of salt and pepper. Stir until the beans are coated in the oil and spices, then add the water or broth. Mash the beans with a potato masher until they are the consistency you want. Add more water or broth if you prefer a saucier pot-o-beans. Once the beans are mashed perfectly and heated through, remove from heat and add the juice from half a lime and cilantro.

I think that if you use olive oil, and add an extra jalapeno or double the cumin or otherwise spice 'em up, these would make a great nachos topping for vegetarian nachos. In fact that's what we might end up having for dinner tonight... because evidently we really like our nachos in this household.