Oven Fried Catfish

ratherbeswimmin''s Note:

Adapted from Cooking Light. We love fried catfish but since deep frying isn't a healthy way to cook (and I hate doing it anyway), I have been looking for an oven-cooked alternative. Here is one that we liked. Serving size--1 fillet; 296 calories, 8.8 g fat, 17.7 g carb, 1.1 g fiber, 99 mg cholesterol. Marinate time is 30 minutes.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• ½ cup light beer
• ½ cup hot sauce
• 4 farm-raised catfish fillets (each fillet should weigh 6 ounces)
• ½ cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. Add the first 3 ingredients to a heavy duty zip-lock bag; seal, shake around to coat the fillets, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Take the fillets out of the bag; pat dry with paper towels and discard the marinade.
3. In a shallow dish such as a pie plate, combine the cornmeal, cornstarch, and salt/pepper.
4. Dredge the fillets in the cornmeal mixture.
5. Lightly coat the fillets with cooking spray.
6. Put the fillets on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
7. Bake in a 450° oven for 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.

Reviews

[Caroline Cooks]

Liked the concept, but needs something. Couldn't taste the beer and the cornstarch didn't help the topping. Made for O is for Oct. event.

[Ang11002]

I made these today for a sunday lunch and they were very easy. I only had 3 large fillets but was still able to use most of the cornmeal "covering". They were slightly spicy from the hot sauce/beer. Thanks NurseDi.

[Kendra*]

What a wonderful, low-fat recipe this is! I added about 1/2 tsp. each of garlic powder and chile powder to the cornmeal mixture. I will definitely make this many, many times. Thanks, NurseDi!