Saturday, March 26, 2016

59. Pecan-Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

Yum
Pecan Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa Collage

My husband keeps begging me for fish tacos.  Not weird, "creative" fish tacos.  He likes the ones I've always made - a version of the fish tacos served at Rubio's that I found in a 2000 issue of Gourmet magazine.  They are delicious, but I've explained to him that they don't really qualify as part of my project.  I'm trying to come up with new things!

Well, I have to give him credit - he's eaten a lot of interesting tacos so far.  Most of them (fortunately) have been great so far, but it is possible to get tired of tortillas.  He's been a good sport.  I decided to give him a break and try to make something similar to our favorite fish tacos.

Well, there is a twist.  If you've read any of my taco recipes, you know that there is always a twist!  :)

I was thinking of making a catfish taco with some New Orleans flavors.  I lived in New Orleans for a year (back in 1998), and I definitely fell in love with the food!  How could you not?

I thought of a dish that I used to love from a restaurant called Copeland's.  At the time, it was called Ricochet Catfish.  (According to their website, it looks like they now call it simply Pecan-Crusted Catfish.)  It was a pecan-crusted, fried catfish dish covered with a brown butter/lemon (meunière) sauce.  It was pretty decadent.  I never realized you could fry something and put buttery sauce on top of it until I lived in New Orleans!

We actually had a Copeland's in Chandler (about 35 minutes away from us) sometime in the early 2000s.  It didn't last long.  Don't get me wrong - I love Arizona, but I don't think Arizonans really "got" Copeland's.  It closed.  :(

I haven't been back to New Orleans since I moved away.  Fortunately, a visit is on the horizon!  A jazz conference that I have been attending every year for the past few years is going to take place in New Orleans next January!  I'm super excited.  I'm just going to eat, drink, and listen to jazz the whole time!

 In the meantime, I'm going to try these tacos and see if they remind me of that catfish dish from Copeland's.  Hopefully, they will also (somehow) remind Steve of Rubio's tacos.  O.o  Ha ha.

Here's the recipe!  :)

Pecan-Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa


Serves 5-6 (about 16-18 small tacos)

Ingredients:


For the meunière aioli :


2 tbsp. butter
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. finely chopped Italian parsley


Pecan Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa - Aioli Ingredients

For the pecan-crusted catfish:


1/2 cup pecan halves/pieces
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour (with extra for dredging)
About 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. or 10 oz. beer (not dark; I used a pilsner)
1 tbsp. Creole seasoning (such as Tony Chachere's)

Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning for Pecan Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

1 and 1/4  lb. catfish fillets
Canola oil for frying

For the spicy tomato and herb salsa:


4 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 Fresno chiles, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
2 tbsp. finely chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
3/4 tsp. salt, plus more if desired

A few cups of thinly sliced green cabbage

Sliced Cabbage for Pecan Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

16-36 small (street-taco size) corn tortillas, depending on whether you plan to double them up

Lemon wedges, for garnish

Instructions:

1.  Brown the butter:  Place the butter in a small or medium skillet over low heat.  Cook gently until the butter has turned to a golden caramel color.  Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn.  Mine took about 25 to 30 minutes to reach the color I wanted.  Be patient!  :)  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool a bit.

Brown Butter for Pecan Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

2.  While the butter is browning, make the salsa:  Combine all of the salsa ingredients in a medium bowl.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Set aside.

Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa for Pecan Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli

3.  Finish the aioli:  Place the cooled butter and all of the other aioli ingredients except the parsley in a 2-cup glass liquid measuring cup.  Blend with a hand blender until smooth.  (You can do this in a regular blender or food processor if you wish.)  Stir in the parsley.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Transfer to a small dish.  Cover and set aside.

Meunière Aioli for Pecan Crusted Catfish Tacos

4.  Prepare the pecan crust:  Place the pecans in a coffee grinder.  Pulse until coarsely ground.  Alternately, you can use a food processor.

Ground Pecans for Pecan Crusted Catfish Tacos

Place the ground pecans, panko, and 1/4 tsp. salt in a shallow bowl and stir to combine.

Pecan and Panko Coating for Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

5.  Prepare the batter for the fish:  Whisk together the flour, beer, and Creole seasoning in a medium bowl.  Cover and set aside.

6.  Cut the fish into strips.  I ended up with about 30 pieces.  The size is really up to you, as long they get fully cooked!  :)

7.  Add canola oil to a deep pot until a depth of about 2 inches is reached.  Heat the oil to about 360 degrees.  Set aside some extra flour in a shallow dish.  While the oil is heating, set up an assembly line:  flour - batter - pecan crust.  You can see mine below:

Assembly Line for Pecan-Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

8.  Fry the catfish:  Dredge several strips of fish in the extra flour.  Dip them in the batter.  Allow the excess batter to drain off, roll them in the pecan mixture, and then carefully drop them in the hot oil.  Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Remove from the oil and transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towels.  Do this in batches.  It took me about five batches to cook mine, but it went pretty quickly!  Keep the fish warm in a 250 degree oven.

9.  After the fish is fried, prepare the tortillas to your liking.  There are a few different ways you can do this.  When I am making tacos with soft corn tortillas, I heat a dry cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  I place a large sheet of aluminum foil near the pan.  I heat each tortilla in the skillet for about a minute or so on each side, or until it softens and begins to brown.

Tortillas for Pecan-Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

After each one is done, I place it on the foil and immediately start the next one.  I stack them on top of one another as I work.  When I'm done with the whole batch, I wrap them completely in the foil and place them in a 250 degree oven (along with the fish, in this case) until I'm ready to assemble the tacos.  They always stay hot and soft!  If there are leftovers, I heat fresh tortillas for the next meal.  

10.  Assemble the tacos:  For each taco, place a tortilla on a plate.  If you have thin corn tortillas, you can use two for each taco.  Mine were thick, so I only used one!  Place a couple of pieces of fish down the center of each tortilla.  Top with some of the cabbage.  Spoon on some of the aioli.  Finish with some of the salsa and a squeeze of lemon.  Enjoy!

Pecan-Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

Well, I think it's safe to say that these fish tacos turned out to be the perfect happy medium!  I did create them, so I get to count them as part of my project!  (Believe me, I don't have time to make tacos that don't count . . .)  They were also a recognizable version of a fish taco, so my husband was thrilled!  There were some different flavors going on, that's for sure.  However, we had the most important elements:  Fried fish - check.  Cabbage - check.  Salsa - check.  Mayo-based white sauce - check.  It worked.

Pecan-Crusted Catfish Tacos with Meunière Aioli and Spicy Tomato and Herb Salsa

Did these remind me of the Copeland's catfish dish?  Well . . . kind of.  It's a different thing, obviously, but the flavors were there.  The brown butter in the aioli was subtle, but I think it added an interesting layer of flavor.  You could add more brown butter, but then you'd have . . . lots of cold butter.  And mayo.  Ugh.  I wouldn't change it.  I think my proportions were pretty right on.  :)

I loved the pecan/panko coating on the fish.  I was afraid it would burn, but it was just fine.  The batter and the coating gave the fish a delicious flavor.

My spicy tomato and herb salsa was just the ticket for this.  I love traditional pico de gallo with cilantro, but . . . cilantro just didn't seem like it would work for this dish.  The parsley, thyme, and oregano complemented the flavors in the other elements of this dish.  A standard pico de gallo would have been lacking.

I did almost run out of the pecan/panko coating, but I didn't want to waste expensive pecans.  If you have 1 to 1.25 pounds of fish, you'll probably be all right.  If you have a little extra fish, you might want to make some extra coating.  :)

This made a lot.  I think we could have served 3 or 4 more people!  Fortunately, I know that fish tacos make great leftovers.  If I put the leftover fish in a toaster oven at about 375 degrees, they'll crisp up again and be just as delicious.  All I need are some fresh tortillas and we're in business!  :)

Feel free to comment on this recipe!  Did you try them?  What did you think?

Thanks for reading!

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