Pecan Crusted Catfish Nuggets and Barbecued Chicken Wings - 8/28/11

Catfish nuggets are odd shaped pieces of catfish, ends and such, that are delicious but esthetically displeasing.  No neat fillets there.  At $3.99 a pound, I had to come up with something tasty.  And I did, using some of the pecan meal I picked up on our last trip to Atlanta.

Pecan meal is just finely chopped pecans, so you can certainly chop 'em yourself, but I like buying the meal because it is just the right consistency for breading fish and chicken.  For a pound of fish, all I do is  take some of the pecan meal and season it with garlic salt, pepper, dried thyme and paprika.  I then melt a stick of butter, and dip each piece of catfish in the butter, then the seasoned pecan meal.  Lightly butter a baking pan or dish, and place the prepared fish on it, single layer.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until the pecans are toasty, then carefully turn each piece over and return to the oven until that side has toasty nuts as well.  Yes, I really wrote that.

And that's the whole dish.

Now, the chicken wings - easy, no frying, but still crisp and juicy.  I like to use whole chicken wings.  Don't cut or separate any of the pieces.  Rinse the wings, don't worry about drying them.  Season both sides however you like.  I like salt, pepper, a little paprika, some garlic powder.  Place the wings on a rack over a baking dish and broil each side until the skin is nice and crispy.  People seem to have forgotten how to broil food.  My grandmother used to broil everything she didn't pot.  Potting is what we now call braising.  My grandmother used to braise her meatloaf.  Quite a gal.  But really, broiling seems to be a lost art, which is sad because it produces a nice char and crispy finish without having to fire up the grill or heat up 10 gallons of canola oil.  Makes clean-up a snap.

While the wings are broiling, set up a deep bowl or baking dish with an entire bottle of good quality barbecue sauce.  For this, I like KC Masterpiece Original.  When the wings are crispy, switch the oven to bake, and at 350 degrees, let the chicken finish cooking and warm the baking dish of sauce - maybe 10 minutes, no more.  With a pair of tongs, move the chicken wings to the sauce and carefully stir or toss to coat.  That's it, that's all you have to do.  Since I don't like spicy wings, this is the best way for me to enjoy them.

I suppose you can use any sauce that suits your fancy, including variations on the hot stuff.  I still don't get the attraction of eating food so incendiary it can blow the top of your head off while you sweat pure capsaicin from your pores.  And speaking of afterburn ... laugh while you can monkey boy, the truth is we all have to use the bathroom eventually.