Zesty Baked Catfish

Carrie returned to Emory for the spring semester, and the house contracted again to its core: Naomi, Robert, Mama. The contraction is so familiar now that it no longer carries the grief it once did. The house knows how to be three. The three know how to be the house. And the knowing is the peace that comes from practice, from repetition, from the daily act of setting three places at a table and sitting down to eat and finding the three sufficient.

I have been writing the cookbook with renewed energy — the Kyoto semester gave Carrie new perspectives that she shared with me, and the perspectives have infected the writing: the idea that cooking is meditation (the monks in the temple), that ingredients deserve reverence (the Japanese approach to rice), that the act of feeding is sacred (the Lowcountry approach to everything). The perspectives have not changed the recipes but have deepened the stories, and the deepening is the book's improvement, and the improvement is Carrie's gift.

Mama has been calm this winter — not lucid, not confused, but calm, the calm of a woman whose storm has passed and who is now in the waters beyond the storm, the waters that are still and deep and that hold her without requiring her to swim. Ruth tends her with the daily devotion that Ruth has brought every day for three years, and the devotion is not paid for — the paycheck covers the hours, but the devotion is free, given by a woman who calls another woman "Mrs. Simmons" and who means it the way you mean a prayer.

Robert is building a cradle. Not for anyone — not yet — but "just in case," he says, with the particular look of a man who is thinking about grandchildren and who considers the building of a cradle a reasonable preparation for a future that has not yet been announced. The cradle is cherry wood. The cradle is faith.

I made she-crab soup — the Sunday anchor, the weekly ritual, the dish that I have made every Sunday for six and a half years and that I will make every Sunday until the Sundays run out. The soup is not just food now. It is discipline. It is practice. It is the writing made edible. It is the love made consumable. It is the life.

The she-crab soup anchors my Sundays, but it’s not the only dish that carries the weight of ritual in this kitchen — any seafood I prepare in this house now holds some measure of that same intentionality, that same reverence I’ve been writing about in the cookbook. This Zesty Baked Catfish is the weeknight expression of that same spirit: simple enough to make on a Tuesday after a long day of writing, Lowcountry enough to feel like home, and generous enough to feed the three of us who know, now, exactly how to be the house. It is the meditation made quick, the love made practical.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 catfish fillets (about 6 oz each)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)
Lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions

Preheat. Heat your oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a baking dish large enough to hold the fillets in a single layer.
Make the seasoning mixture. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and minced garlic. In a separate small bowl, combine the smoked paprika, cayenne, onion powder, dried thyme, salt, and black pepper.
Season the fish. Pat the catfish fillets dry with paper towels and place them in the prepared baking dish. Brush each fillet generously with the olive oil and lemon mixture, then sprinkle the dry spice blend evenly over the tops.
Bake. Bake uncovered for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork and the edges are just beginning to turn golden. Do not overbake — catfish is best when it remains moist at the center.
Finish and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest for 2 minutes. Scatter fresh parsley over the fillets and serve immediately with lemon wedges alongside rice, greens, or crusty bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Zesty Baked Catfish — The Sunday Anchor, Made Simple