Catfish fillets, dredged in blackening seasonings and cooked in a hot cast iron skillet, served over Cajun Rice Pilaf and finished with an etouffee sauce with crawfish.

Blackened Catfish with Crawfish Etouffee

Southerners have been blackening foods since Paul Prudhomme came up with this method many years ago. Heavy seasonings seared into a piece of protein is heaven on a plate, and most of us in the Deep South have eaten it in some form or another in our lives.

It started with redfish, and seafood is most common here along the Gulf Coast of course, with catfish certainly taking a top spot on the list. These are the gorgeous filets I used this round.

A whole chicken, cut up, seared and roasted in a cast iron skillet with tarragon, thyme and fresh rosemary and lemon slices.

Cast Iron Skillet Roasted Cut Up Chicken

Chicken is so economical, and we eat a lot of it in this house.

I often buy the big family packs of chicken pieces and split them up, or whole chickens when they go on sale for 99 cents a pound and under, cut them up and freeze them. Leg quarters, drumsticks, wings, whatever is on sale, I know I'll find a use for it. Sometimes we'll make a meal out of wings!

Classic Southern style fresh okra, sliced and tossed in a seasoned cornmeal mixture, and fried in a cast iron skillet.

Classic Iron Skillet Fried Okra

I ran across some of last year's okra I grew and put up, waiting in the freezer for me to use up, so I decided I better get on it and fry some up!

Okra is not hard at all to grow here in the heat of The Deep South, though you do need a nice sized area that gets plenty of sun to have enough to put up. I never manage to get more than a few pods from one stalk before they give up the ghost, but once the pods do begin to show up, they grow pretty quick and harvesting will keep them coming.

 

Fresh corn, bi-color shown here, is stripped from the cob, then fried in bacon drippings and butter, and finished with a little cream.

Iron Skillet Southern Fried Corn

Fried corn is a southern favorite for sure and as of this writing, Florida corn has just started to show up in the markets here. When it does start to appear, this is one of the favorites in our family.

Back when I made my creamed corn, I promised to bring you the recipe for my fried corn. Well, here it is... finally!