Blackened catfish

The Chief Taster likes to tease me about my affinity for spicy foods.  She claims it is because I can not smell things, so I like those strong, spicy flavors.  I think she teases me because she's envious of my high pain threshold, and secretly disappointed and ashamed that her delicate German palate can't handle those delicious Cajun dishes.

Blackened catfish is a happy medium.  Heavy on flavor (while still allowing the catfish itself to feature prominently in your mouth), and just enough spice to warm you a little.  I used this recipe, and I offer this warning: remove the batteries from your smoke detector before you begin cooking.  Then--this is key--put them back once the air has cleared, and before you go to bed.  Don't even bother thinking your range hood fan will keep the smoke moving enough.  You're fooling yourself.  Open all the windows, turn on the fans, but silence that smoke alarm, because if you have one, it'll activate.

On the other hand, if you need to test the efficacy of your smoke alarm, this recipe has an added benefit.

I only missed one thing: I forgot to drizzle butter over the fillets when I put them in the pan.  It didn't seem to matter, because I swear upon all the dogs I have ever loved that this stuff is amazing.  I almost wept twice that night: once when I had to run down the hall with a chair to kill the smoke alarm while I was still trying to manage things in the kitchen (I also had a barley millet skillet and some popovers in the works) and just felt frustrated and stretched thin, and once when I first took a bite of that delicious fish.  If it weren't for all the smoke (which is normal, and to be expected when you cook something with "blackened" right in the name), I'd make this twice a week.