Southern Catfish, Air Fried!

 I've made this once before and it came out good. This is a slight variation on my first attempt. Let's see how it goes.

This recipe is for 1 small catfish fillet in the 3 to 4 oz range. Increase amounts for more fillets.

Ingredients:

1 fillet catfish
2 tbs Medium yellow cornmeal
1 tsp fine ground white cornmeal
Bottle oil spray
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper 

Directions:

1. Thaw catfish (cut down to size if needed).
2. If desired, soak in milk or buttermilk to remove muddy taste. I don't feel a need to do this.
3. Mix the meals, salt and pepper in a flat pan or bowl.
4. Dreg the, slightly, wet fillet in the meal ensuring a good coating on both sides of the fish.
5. Lightly spray the fillet with oil, both sides. Also spray the air-fryer tray or parchment paper.
6. Air-fry at 400 degree F for 8 minutes....don't touch it!
7. Using a spatula (fish spatula is great for this) flip the fillet over.
8. Continue to air-fry for another 8 minutes...don't touch it!
9. At this point the breading should be golden on both sides and the fish done, however if you want the breading darker flip and cook longer, flipping and checking each minute.
10. Best served hot!
    
    

Note: Don't crowd the pan! I have a small air-fryer, so I can only do 1 or 2 fillets at a time.  

Note: You can substitute flour for the white, fine ground, cornmeal if you don't have access to it.

This came out really, really good! I didn't have medium ground corn meal, only fine, so the surface of the breading was not quite as craggy as I really like. However, taste, mouth feel, and appearance was on target! I'll be making this again!

Served with french fries and coleslaw. No hushpuppies, though. Maybe next time.