Jack Hennessy continues his Irish them this week in “Braising the Wild” with Cast-Iron Catfish with Irish Butter Sauce.
Here is the recipe:
CAST-IRON CATFISH WITH IRISH BUTTER SAUCE
My wife found a version of this gem in an Irish cookbook she bought me years ago. The original recipe called for trout, but those are a tad scarce in our nearby Kansas waters so I opted for catfish instead.
You can make this with any fish, especially trout, as the butter sauce is the highlight. I would just recommend not skinning but rather scaling fish like trout and potentially scoring the skin, as well.
To learn how to skin a catfish, there are a lot of videos on YouTube, one of my favorites being How to Skin a Catfish in Less Than 20 Seconds. Phil makes it look so simple, but it’s never been so for me.
Ingredients (four servings):
Two 12- to 14-ounce whole catfish, gutted and skinned
Four fennel sprigs
12 ounces unsalted butter, mixed use
1/4 pint heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon freshly minced garlic
1 tablespoon freshly minced shallots
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
Fresh lemon slices for garnish
Kosher salt and pepper, mixed use
- In a medium pot heated on medium-low heat, sauté freshly minced shallots and garlic in a tablespoon or 2 of butter until slightly soft and brown. Lightly salt and butter then add heavy cream to reduce.
- In a separate medium or large pot, briefly boil spinach leaves for a couple minutes then drain them in a colander.
- Add soft spinach leaves to cream while it reduces. Meanwhile, slice two sticks of butter and leave in a bowl at room temperature.
- Continue to stir spinach into cream as it reduces. Once cream has reduced to approximately one-third, turn off the heat and lift up pot and slowly start to whisk in butter two pats at a time until all butter is melted. Set aside.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet to 425 degrees and lightly oil. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Place two fennel sprigs and two pats of butter in cavities of both fish. Lightly salt and pepper both sides of fish and place in skillet.
- Lightly oil topside of fish while bottom crisps. Once bottom is golden-brown, flip and sear other side.
- Once both sides are seared, place in oven for 5-6 minutes to finish cooking fish.
- Pull from oven and plate with freshly sliced lemons overtop and your preferred amount of Irish butter sauce. Enjoy!