cook it: blackening spice rub and catfish

When Josh and I ate at Tupelo Honey for his Father's Day brunch, we picked up a copy of their cook book. We've been slowly working our way through a few recipes. Last week I put together their Blackening Spice, but I couldn't figure out what to try it on. I'm still rocking the whole vegan thing, so I didn't really know what kind of meat to blacken for Josh. Tupelo Honey recommends catfish. Sounded totally gross to me, but Josh was up for the adventure!

Here's the recipe for the rub:

Blackening Spice
1 tbls sugar
1 tbls seat salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbls smoked paprika
1 tsp powdered onion
1 tsp powdered garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano

step 1) mix it all together
step 2) blacken something!

We (and by we, I actually mean Josh) dredged the catfish in the blackening spices. We (still just Josh) then placed the seasoned fish in a pan of lightly simmering oil. We (yep, just Josh) then fried each side for 3 minutes. Tupelo Honey suggests topping the spiced catfish with their Sunshot Salsa. Check it out:

I was having a veggie plate for dinner, so I plated up Josh's catfish with sides. He said the meal was delish. A perfect Sunday Southern meal!

tupelo honey blackened catfish with sunshot salsa
garden fresh green beans and sea-salt
garden fresh squash with olive oil, salt and pper
farmer's market silver queen corn (with butter!)
southern biscuit