Southern Roots

So a few weeks ago I decided to get in touch with my southern roots- yes, despite living in North Dakota, I have experience with the good ol' south. :)

Anyways, fresh catfish had been on sale at the nearby grocery store, so I picked some up and pondered how to make it and what to make it with.  Then I thought to myself, "Self, what is a nice southern side dish to go with catfish?" and I came up with corn bread.

As you can see, the result was beautiful.

The catfish was "oven-fried" and I found the recipe for it here.  Despite all of the comments, I followed the directions exactly (which is what I normally do the first time I try a recipe- if I like the recipe well enough, I make it again somewhere down the road with my own fantastic special changes) and the end-product was perfect.  It had the taste and texture of pan-fried catfish, but lacked the grease as well all of the unhealthiness- not that I'm hugely into eating healthily (but I should be), but it's an added bonus.  In the future I would maybe change some of the seasonings; I feel as though fish should nearly always have lemon with it (although there have been exceptions).  So, I would probably add a bit of lemon pepper.  Oh, and some extra spice... who doesn't love semi-spicy foods?

Despite summers in the south, along with the occasional Christmas or spring break, I never really did have cornbread all that much.  So, when I tried this recipe, I had no idea what to expect.  However, my husband really loves cornbread (which surprised me, because sometimes he can be a titch picky) and he said this turned out wonderfully.  I didn't tweak the recipe and I don't think I would- plus, it was fairly simple to make.  I even semi-enjoyed it (not that I didn't like it, it just seems to be too "heavy" of a food for my liking).

Conclusions:

1) I should get in touch with my southern roots more often, and
2) both of these recipes are worth keeping and will go into my cookbook.