Shrimp, Catfish and Bagel. Nov 2011

Today we made a delicious sea food meal that was served with my recipe of bagels and fresh butter.

The shrimp sauce turned out very delicious. The way we cooked the cat fish, with not that much oil, but enough and quite hot to keep it crunchy and flavorful was also great, but the cat fish itself still tasted a bit too "earthy" for me.

I would rather have had this same dish with a piece of Bass.

Pan Fried Cat Fish with Shrimp Etouffee

Port 12

Shrimp Etouffee

• 1.5 lb Shrimp
• 3 oz Butter
• Tomato product (paste, whole peeled or sauce)
• 6 oz Onions chopped
• 3 oz Green Bell Peppers chopped
• 3 oz Celery chopped
• 2 oz Scallions chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp Flour
• 12 floz Water or Fish stock
• 1/4 tsp Dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tbsp chopped Parsley
• Salt, to taste

Procedure

Sweat your vegetables with your spices to activate your spices, add your flour and make a blond roux. Add your fish stock and the tomato product and let it simmer until thick and flavorful.

Put your sauce to the side now prep your shrimp: 

peel, saute them and once pink combine them with your sauce.

Cat Fish

• 1.5 tsp Salt
• 1.5 tsp Paprika
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne
• 1/2 tsp Dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp Black pepper
• 1/4 tsp White Pepper
• 3 lb Cat Fish
• Clarified Butter, or a high smoke point oil (as needed)

Procedure

Season both sides of the fillets, flour both sides and pan fry it in a medium heat.

Serve it with the shrimp sauce and some rice of your choice.

Bagels

Yield 10 4x1.5 inch high bagels

Starter

• 1 tsp Instant dry east
• 2 1/4 cup Water
• 3 cups Bread flour

Flour Mix

• 3 tbsp (1.5 oz) Butter
• 2 1/3 cup (12.75 oz) Bread Flour
• 1 tsp Instant yeast
• 1 tbsp (0.7 oz) Malt Syrup
• 1 tbsp (0.5 oz) Sugar
• 1 tbsp (0.75oz) Salt
• Black Pepper, to taste

Procedure

In a bowl whisk two cups  (11 oz) flour, your yeast, malt, sugar, salt and pepper. Sprinkle this mix over your sponge. Do not stir. 

Cover it with plastic wrap and let it stand from 1-4 yours at room temperature (or 1 hour at room temperature and then refrigerate it overnight - 24 hrs).

Mix the Dough

Add the butter and the remaining flour (all but 2 tbsp) and mix the dough with a hook at low speed, until it is moistened, for 1 minute. Raise the speed to medium 5-7 minutes adding the remaining 2 tbsp of flour in the dough if the dough does not pull away from the bowl.

The dough should be elastic, smooth and should jump back when pressed.

Place it in a lightly floured counter and knead it a few times, as little as possible. If it is too tacky to the touch, add a bit more flour.

*If you want to stop working at this point, you can rest it overnight and continue the next day.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise until it doubles in size. It should take from 1 to 2 hours.

Punch it down, turn it once and set it back in the container.

Oil the top, cover it and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Let it stand  for 30 minutes at room temperature before shaping it.

Shaping the dough and letting it rise

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer the dough onto an un-floured counter. Cut the dough in half and place one piece covered in the cooler. Now cut the remaining piece in 5 equal pieces and allow the dough to rest for 10 min.

Form a ball with the dough, preferably folding in each corner. This makes it a more firm and even ball. With your index finger and then thumb punch a whole in the middle. Form a ring with a 2.5 inch hole and place it on the lined sheet.

Oil a plastic wrap or a second floured towel and cover it.

Allow it to rise for 15 minutes.

Pre heat the oven at 500 F 30 minutes before baking and when baking use the lowest level of your shelf, preferably with a baking stone. 

A hot baking stone will allow the baking process to start quicker by giving the yest in the dough more strength from all the heat combined (stone and oven) to rise, forming a nicer and lighter crumb.

Water Bath Topping

• 1 big stock pot with boiling water
• 2 tbsp Molasses or sugar (1/4 cup)
• 1 tsp Baking soda

Glaze and Topping

• 2 large Egg whites
• 1 tsp cold water

Seeds

Use any raw seeds of your preference to coat the outside of the bagel.

Procedure

Prepare half a sheet pan with seeds for sticking on both sides of the bagel.

Add your sugar and baking soda to the boiling water and put your bagel in 1 at a time without crowding them. 

Cook 2 or 3 at a time without letting them touch each other. 

The longer time they boil for, the thicker the crust will become once baked.

Remove the boiled bagel with a pancake spatula and set it on the seeds. 

Now move them to the bread peel and glaze them with the mix of egg whites and cold water. Try not to let this mix drip onto the peel or else they will glue the bagels. 

Brush them with a second coat of glaze

Slide them quickly (so that you don't loose oven heat) onto the hot stone or bake them on the baking sheet on top of the stone.

Bake them for 5 min. and now lower the temp. to 450 F and bake for about 20 min, until golden. 

Turn off the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes longer.

Remove them and let them cool before serving.

This one has a touch of sesame seeds.

This one was coated in millet seeds. 

It looks very attractive, but the seeds are kind of hard to chew on.

Here are both types on a sheet pan.

I am still impressed with the fall colors even in midst of the beautiful November snow.