There was a river deep and fast
A bridge that always stood alone
Under the bridge, a mossy snag,
A whiskered catfish lived there long…
He may have lived there long, but we just finished eating it. The meat is juicy, tender and boneless. It’s very tasty if stewed with porcini and cream, or whatever else your imagination is capable of.
Ingredient
1 catfish (about 1 kg)
salt, black pepper
a 5 cm piece of ginger
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
bunch of spring onion
For sauce
sour cream
lemon juice
parsley, dill, onion, coriander
cucumber
bell pepper
For garnish
4-5 potatoes
5 carrots
Salt, pepper, ground coriander
1. First you need to get catfish ready. Rinse under cold running water and clean if necessary. Make incisions on skin around head, raise skin with knife tip and start separating from flesh.
Make sure you separate skin from flesh near belly, and only then pull off skin, as if you were taking off a sock, helping with a knife.
2. When the skin’s off
cut off head and caudal fin – you can use them for stock.
3. Now it’s time to separate fillet. You will need a long, thin and sharp knife for fish. Having made an incision along the spine,
separate meat from spine bone on both sides. There are your fillets.
4. Prepare marinade for fillets. Combine pressed garlic, grated ginger, soy sauce, lemon juice, honey, freshly ground pepper and dip fillets into this sauce. To marinate, put into a fridge for 30 minutes.
5. While fillets are marinating, peel potatoes, cutting up into smaller chunks to cook faster, sprinkle with ground coriander, pepper and add boiling water. Continue cooking, adding salt about 3-4 minutes before ready. Strain off water and let potatoes dry inside the pan with no lid by placing over the hot burner.
Only then can you start making puree. It’s best to make puree in a food processor to make sure there isn’t a single lump in it.
Peel carrots and cut diagonally into large chunks, stewing in a pan with thick walls, having added coriander and pepper.
6. Now that fillets are marinated, you need to cut them into thin narrow strips about 1 cm wide, making every three of them into a braid. In a bowl, mix a pinch of saffron and turmeric with a tablespoon of olive oil. Brush mixture onto braids.
7. Preheat the oven to 180 in grill mode. Place braids on a hot grid, otherwise you can have trouble taking them off later, and they can just be ruined. Roast for 8-10 minutes.
8. While fish is cooking, lay the tray with baking paper, greasing with vegetable oil. Fill a piping bag with puree, squeezing onto the tray through any cooking nozzle you like. Bake in the same mode to achieve golden crust.
9. Prepare thick sauce. Any greens will do – onions, parley, coriander, or dill, a small bunch of each. Chop up greens, adding finely sliced cucumber, bell pepper and chopped garlic, pour with lemon juice and top with sour cream. Add pepper and salt at this point.
Place braids, potato and sauce with lemon dashes on a plate. Yummy! Enjoy!!
