Cook Your Catch: Fish and Grits – Hardhead Catfish and Croakers
Eugene L. 09.27.24
While on my trip down to Port St. Joe over Labor Day weekend, I also did a bit of surf fishing. A short drive over from Port St. Joe we went over to the Stump Hole, a spot right before all the riprap on 30E. While the original target was to get some whiting, pompano, and hopefully redfish on whiting chunks, I ended up only catching a bunch of hardhead catfish and a few croakers that were big enough to take home. While not my target croakers are still decent eating when prepared properly. So after bleeding them all and icing them, I got to filleting all the croakers as well as taking the pin bones out of the croakers to prepare to make them into some delicious fish and grits.
Similar to the Scallops on Risotto, you are going to have to start with Grits first here. While you can just make them super simple using water and maybe a little butter. I’m going to show you how to snazz up your grits.
Fish and Grits – Creamy Cheese Grits Ingredients
- 4 Cups low-sodium chicken stock or 4 cups of water with a quality chicken bouillon
- 1 Cup Quick Grits
- 3oz Pepperjack Cheese or Any creamy cheese of your preference
- 3/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- Salt & Pepper to Taste
Instructions for Creamy Cheese Grits
The first thing to do is get a big enough saucepan and put in all your chicken stock, put that on high heat, and bring it to a rolling boil. Once it is boiling add in your cup of quick grits, and bring it back up to a boil, stirring as you do this. Once the grits are boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Once the grits have boiled for 5 minutes and reach the consistency where you want it, add in your grated Parmesan Cheese and pepper jack cheese. Stir till its combined well.
Once the cheese is all melted in well take the grits off the heat, and throw in the knob of butter and mix it in. Season for taste at this point with the salt and pepper.
Fish and Grits – Pan Fried Croaker – Ingredients
- 6 fillets of fresh croaker
- 1/2 cup AP flour
- 1/2 cup corn flour
- Creole seasoning
- 3 slices of bacon, diced
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 green onion, diced
- chopped flat-leaf parsley
- capers
- White Wine
- Olive Oil
- Lemon
The first thing to get started is in a deeper pan start frying your diced pieces of bacon on medium heat. You want to render the fat out of the bacon without burning the bacon bits.
Next, you want to prep the coating for the croaker fillets, and mix together the corn flour, AP flour, and creole seasoning in a bowl.
Dredge your croaker fillets in the dredge and let them sit for 5 minutes. This lets the flour really set from the moisture of the fish, giving you a better crust.
While that’s going on remove the bacon pieces that are crisp from the pan and put them aside. Then add in some olive oil to the pan with the bacon fat to make a thin layer of oil across the bottom of the pan to fry your croaker pieces in.
Fry the fish until it is golden brown on both sides. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan, as it’ll drop the temp too much and make the coating not set. Once the fish is done cooking, place it on a rack to drain any excess oil.
Now with the fish done, you are going to make a sauce/topping for your fish and grits. Add in the diced onions, cooking till they are translucent. Then put in about a quarter cup of quality white wine into the pan to deglaze all the fond off the pan.
Once the onions are done and the pan is deglazed, cut the heat and add in the bacon bits, capers, green onions, and flat-leaf parsley. Mix it all together and then squeeze in half a lemon. Stir it again, the fat, flour, and juice will combine to make a nice fresh sauce/topping that is slightly tart.
Once the sauce is done, ladle the grits into your serving bowl, top with three pieces of fried croakers, and spoon over the topping/sauce over the fillets. Serve immediately and enjoy your Fish and Grits
Cook your Catch on AllOutdoor
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