Catfish Creole

This is from the Sunset Seafood Cookbook (1981). We make it frequently. It's quick and tasty. Feel free to spice this up if you'd like to. The original calls for the lemon to be sliced thinly and laid on top. If you do this, use a sweet lemon. If it's not sweet, it will make the dish bitter. We've tossed out a few batches because of this, so we started zesting the lemon and using the juice.

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 6
• Yields: 6

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons butter
• 1  large onion, chopped
• 1⁄2 cup celery, chopped
• 1⁄2 cup green bell pepper, Chopped
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 1  lemon, zested finely and juiced (more to taste)
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1  tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1  tablespoon paprika
• 1  bay leaf
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (or other)
• 2  lbs catfish fillets
•  hot cooked rice (white or brown)

Directions

1. Melt butter in wide frying pan or dutch oven over medium heat; add onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic. Cook until soft (about 7 minutes); add tomatoes, lemon zest and juice, Worcestershire, paprika, bay leaf, salt, thyme and Tabasco. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes until sauce is slightly thickened.
2. Press fish pieces down into sauce; spoon some of the sauce over the top of fish. Cover pan and simmer gently until fish flakes readily when prodded in thickest portion with a fork. For a 1 1/2 inch-thick piece of fish (measured in thickest portion), allow 15 minutes.
3. To serve, spoon fish and sauce over cooked rice or add a bit of rice right to the pan.