Southern Style Fish Dinner

For most people in central Alabama going fishing is a way of life, either for enjoyment as a catch and release activity or for food. I am the one who loves to go fishing for food.

There are many different species of fish here in the rivers, ponds and lakes but as most people I have a few that enjoy catching and enjoy even more as dinner.

With Bream, sometimes referred to as sunfish, being my favorite that is not always what is eaten for dinner around here. Bream are small fish and I remove the head and guts and cook them whole, but most people are spoiled to the fillets that are boneless so I tend to fry up those, especially when I am shopping in the deep freezer.

Crappie and Bass are by far my favorite fish to make dinner with, both have a sweet taste and a nice texture that is flaky but not tough.

Catfish is it for a lot of people but I tend to want to eat this one whole also, its not my favorite but I will not turn fried catfish away.

Last night I shopped the deep freezer and I pulled out a package of  lake caught bass, I put them into lukewarm water to thaw and this usually only take ten minutes.

Next I put extra virgin olive oil in a cast iron skillet and cut the heat up to medium.

I poured some flour into a deep bowl, added a little salt and I removed the fish from the water and tossed each in the flour.

When the oil was hot I put only enough fish in the skillet to cover the bottom in a single later. When the edges were turning brown I flipped it over to cook the other side, when the edge was brown its done I removed it from the skillet and to drain on a paper towel lined plate. I repeated the process till I cooked all the fish.

But what is fish without home cooked oven fries? Plain fish and thats all.

Lets do spicy oven fries!

Preheat the oven to 450°

Took a baking sheet out and coated the bottom with a thick coat of extra virgin olive oil. Set it aside.Wash potatoes good and dry with a hand towel, Cut the potatoes into thin slices and then cut them into think shoestring potatoes.

Put them onto the greased cooking sheet .

Sprinkle garlic powder, season salt and red pepper over all the potatoes. ( easy on the red pepper its very hot)

Toss into the oil using your hands, coating them with the oil and spices.

Bake till they are getting crispy, around 30 minutes.

NOTE: Put the potatoes on to cook first because they take longer to cook than the fish.

Now that is a fish and fires meal you will enjoy, with the flaky simple tasting fish and the potatoes with the seasoning that kicks.

Southern style.

Don`t know how to clean fish? No problem! Click Here  : Learn how to clean fish

By Andria Perry

Photo by Andria Perry- fish and season fries.