Executive chef Rick Moonen is dedicated to using sustainable seafood, including catfish, which is farm-raised in the Southeast and is rated as a “best choice,” in terms of safeguarding the environment and preventing depletion of waterways, by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
For this sandwich, Moonen makes a mild, fish-friendly barbecue sauce by flavoring clam juice with a little caramel and red wine vinegar. He adds the sauce to sautéed onions and garlic flavored with thyme. He then adds some ketchup, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and white pepper to that mixture and simmers it for about 20 minutes.
Separately, he sautés diced onion and bell pepper in olive oil until the onion starts to soften. Then he adds paprika, cooks it for a minute and adds salted, diced catfish fillet. He adds the barbecue sauce and simmers it for six to seven minutes, until the sauce thickens.
He puts the mixture on toasted potato buns and serves it with potato chips and pickles for $15.
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Contact Bret Thorn at bret.thorn@penton.com.
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