Near East makes a sun-dried tomato and rice box that, like everything of theirs, is trivial to make and goes well with this*. We had it with a nice red wine this time but, in retrospect, the flavor is a bit too powerful for wine. Knudsen’s spritzers worked well but I think that the perfect drink for this would be mango juice, although you might want to swap the sun-dried tomato rice with a simpler rice-pilaf if you went that way. If you live near an Indian restaurant you may want to snag some Mango Lassis because this’ll be a little hot. But, neither Miller, nor I, are fans of hot foods and we both like this dish.

Ingredients:

• catfish filet
• crushed red pepper (preferably freshly ground)
• black pepper (also freshly ground)
• oregano
• olive oil

You’ll want 1/2 – 3/4 of a fillet per person. Your pan should be medium high: hot enough to sear the outside  of the fish but but not so hot that it won’t have time to cook all the way through.

Coat the bottom of the pan in a thin layer of olive oil, and when it’s hot throw it the whole fillets. Quickly grind on a healthy amount of black pepper (imagine you’re having sunny side up eggs and you reallllly like black pepper). Grind on the red pepper. Grind on more red pepper. Hmm, no I don’t think you understand. You see how much black pepper you put on? Yeah, you want about 125-150% of that amount. Throw on the oregano and quickly flip the filet. Don’t try and do it slow and gentle. Catfish gets really flaky as it cooks and once it starts to break apart it’ll just disintegrate. So, get your spatula under there, and lift and flip in one quick motion (but don’t slap it down, and watch out for hot oil spatter).

Coat the seconds side just like you did the first.  Cover and let sit for a few minutes. Once the bottom has started to sear flip it, leave the cover off for a minute to let the moisture escape that had built up before, make sure it’s still got enough olive oil left, then cover for a few more minutes. Take the cover off and after a minute or so, turn off the heat. You want to be careful at this point because the fish will flake really easily.

What to expect: This will have a strong initial hit that will clear out your sinuses followed up with the gentle flavor of the fish. I think the peppers actually make the catfish flavor a seem lot milder than i remember from my childhood. The searing is really critical to pulling this dish off. If after that first spice side is flipped back it doesn’t have a nice red-gold sear going on turn it right back over. It’s a lot harder to redo it after the other side is done because it’ll fall apart easily.

Notes: Miller suggests dill instead of the oregano. I say experiment with almost any dried green leafy bits you have laying around. I’m going to try dried parsley next time. The oregano isn’t quite flavorful enough. I recommend starting to grind after it’s already in the pan so that the spices that miss the fish fall into the oil and thus get cooked into it as you go. I don’t cook this with lemon juice, or personally think that it adds much to the flavor when added afterwards but it doesn’t taste bad at all and pouring some on after does tend to calm down the heat if it’s a bit much for you.

*I have no idea how long the rice takes to cook. I just stuck it in my kick-ass rice-cooker and told it when I wanted it to finish. I can’t tell you how how awesome this rice-cooker is. Yes, I realize it’s “just a rice cooker” but it is really well made, wonderfully designed, and does a kick-ass job of making sure different rices, and rice and veggie combinations come out right, and compensating for when I put in too much water (easy to do when you’ve got moist veggies in there too).

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti, Ziti, Linguine, etc. I recommend avoiding fine pasta’s likeangel-hair.
• Vegetable / Safflower / anything but Olive oil to fry it in.
• Oregano. Lots of oregano. This is non-optional.
• One block of extra firm tofu. NOT SILKEN.
• As many of the following as you can get your hands on.
  • garlic powder (highly recommended)
  • brewer’s yeast flakes (health food section / store usually but still hard to find)
  • onion powder

Instructions:

• Pour off the water in the tofu container. With the tofu still in its container take a sharp knife and slice it across the smaller dimension into1/8th to 3/16th inch slices. It’s important to keep them thin. Much thinner and theytear and have no body. Much thicker and the crisp to soft ratio is broken. Then make one slice down the middle lengthwise. This will leave you with tworows of tofu squares approximately 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ x 1/8″.
• Heat up your fry pan somewhere between medium high and high.
• Lay down a thin layer of vegetable oil. Just enough to cover the bottom.
• Sprinkle the oregano, brewer’s yeast, garlic powder, and onion powder over the oil.
• Cover the pan with a single layer of tofu. Use the spatula because the water in / on the tofu will spatter.
• Sprinkle the oregano, brewer’s yeast, garlic powder, and onion powder over the tofu. Now both sides have it.
• Let the tofu cook until it’s golden. I’m talking a little lighter than a McDonalds chicken nugget golden.
• If you need to pour a little more oil into the pan between the slices and tilt it around.
• Flip your tofu over. If it’s not golden yet flip it back. It’s really important that each side gets a little crisp. Sometimes you’ll find that the edges get nicely done but the center of the sides are only slightly golden. This is ok. The edges will compensate for the middle when you’re eating it.

One block of tofu will probably end up covering 2 1/2 fry pans. So, grab some friends and hang out in the kitchen while you fry it up and they look at you like a crazy person for suggesting they eat tofu on their pasta. I’d guess maybe 5 minutes per pan, but I’ve never timed it. You want to keep it warm but remember that it’s freaking hot when if first comes off of the fry pan. Top your pasta with it in exactly the same way you’d use meatballs. I’d recommend a good vodka sauce. There are three brands I’ve seen in the supermarket lately and so far the Barilla that comes with two bottles is the best, although they don’t label it as a vodka sauce. You have to read the ingredients and look for vodka but I think it’s the most normal looking one of the three they offer. I wouldn’t recommend this with white sauce.

Tips:

• It’s in your best interest to gently push your tofu around in the pan while it cooks so that it doesn’t stick. Sticking is bad because it will tear when you pick it up.
• Because we want clean-up to be easy we want to use barely enough oil at all times. Just keep enough so that there is some between each piece of tofu and the pan.
• If you cut the tofu too thin it’ll just crisp like a potato-chip and that’s no fun.
• We’re shooting for something that feels a lot like a chicken nugget in your mouth. It should be a little crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. If you cut them as thick as a nugget though you get too much of the bland uncooked tofu flavor which doesn’t really help pasta in any way.
• Because you’ve got the heat up high and you’re throwing little dried leaves and powdered things in the pan and you’ll probably have to do three batches to finish the whole block there may be a little smoke. Don’t worry,just turn on the fan and keep an eye on things.
• While I haven’t tried tofu and meatballs on the same pasta I think it would be too much.
• If you’re wondering what else you can do with your brewer’s yeast you can always sprinkle it on your dog’s food. It’s great for dogs but you might want to avoid it if you have a breed that is prone to bloat.
  

  Brewer’s yeast contains essential B vitamins including biotin, minerals including zinc, and high quality proteins. These assist in the control of shedding and promote a healthy skin and hair coat. Brewer’s yeast has been fed to pets to control fleas as it seems to create an odor from the inside out that is unpleasant to fleas. This has not been confirmed through research. It has also been said the brewer’s yeast will stimulate the immune system. -PetEducation.com

Credits: I honestly haven’t a clue where I got the idea for this. I’m not sure if I thought this up, or if it was Miller, or maybe I read it somewhere…