By Millie Peartree
- Total Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes
- Rating
- 4(87)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Spaghetti in a hearty tomato sauce accompanies this tender, flaky fish, coated in crisp cornmeal in this Southern dish. It’s often paired with potato salad, and linked to the Deep South and the Midwest. But the recipe developer Millie Peartree grew up eating it in New York, where her mother, Millie Bell, who is from Savannah, Ga., would serve it as part of Friday night fish fries. This recipe calls for catfish, but whiting or flounder would also work well. Just make sure to look for a cornmeal that’s not extra fine for the crispiest fish.
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 1cup buttermilk
- 1teaspoon yellow or Dijon mustard
- 2teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
- 2teaspoons black pepper
- 2pounds catfish fillets, cut crosswise into 1-inch-wide strips
- 6cups vegetable oil, for frying
- 1½cups fine cornmeal
- ½cup all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1pound ground beef or turkey, or ground Italian sausage
- 1cup chopped onion (from 1 medium onion)
- ½cup chopped green bell pepper (from ½ medium pepper)
- 1teaspoon seasoned salt
- ¼teaspoon black pepper
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 2(15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 1(15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes with their juices
- ¼cup low-sodium or unsalted chicken stock
- 2tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1tablespoon tomato paste
- 1tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1teaspoon parsley leaves, chopped, plus more for serving
- 1teaspoon basil leaves, chopped, plus more for serving
- ⅛teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- Kosher salt
- 1pound dry spaghetti
For the Catfish
For the Pasta
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
1405 calories; 99 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 65 grams monounsaturated fat; 16 grams polyunsaturated fat; 90 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 14 grams sugars; 41 grams protein; 1348 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
Step
1
Marinate the catfish: In a medium bowl, mix together buttermilk, mustard, salt and pepper. Add the catfish strips, turning to coat each side, and place in the refrigerator to marinate as you prepare the sauce.
Step
2
Prepare the pasta sauce: In a large pot set over medium-high, heat olive oil until it shimmers. Add ground meat, onion, green pepper, seasoned salt and black pepper. Cook until the meat is browned and cooked through and the vegetables have softened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.
Step
3
Add tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, stock, sugar, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, parsley, basil and red-pepper flakes. Continue to simmer until sauce has thickened, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Step
4
While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.
Step
5
As pasta cooks, prepare the fish for frying: As sauce cooks, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high in a large (12-inch) cast-iron skillet until it reaches 365 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
Step
6
In a medium bowl or resealable plastic bag, combine the cornmeal, flour and seafood seasoning. Add the fish to the mixture, a few strips at a time, and tumble gently to coat evenly
Step
7
Working in batches, fry fillets until golden brown, about 5 minutes, flipping occasionally with tongs. Avoid crowding the pan, so that the fillets have room to brown properly. (Fish should be slightly crisp outside, and moist and flaky inside.) Drain on paper towels, and hit with seafood seasoning or salt as soon as the fried strips come out of the oil.
Step
8
Toss the spaghetti into the simmered sauce. Serve the sauced pasta across plates, alongside the fried fish. Sprinkle more basil and parsley over the top.
Ratings
4
out of 5
87
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Mollyo
So you haven't made the dish and don't like even the idea of it? Gotta wonder why anyone thinks that's "helpful".
Afi
Wow. This brings back so many memories. Now all we need is some hot water cornbread and cole slaw. Thanks for this.
Mayor McCheese
Thanks to all the heroes who saw "fried" in the title and came here to virtue-comment.
Sissy Ashby
Although my mother, who was from Mobile, was Episcopalian not Catholic, we always had fried fish and spaghetti for Friday night supper.Think I’ll try it myself this Friday.
inframan
Fried/sauteed fish *and* ground beef/turkey/sausage. I guess I'll pass, thanks. Already had one bypass operation.
Mary from Terry, MS
What a treat to see this recipe here. I grew up eating this combination which is still served in many southern restaurants. Our public school cafeteria served these two options on Fridays when Catholics were supposed to abstain from meat. Many Protestant children loved the combination, including me!
Luther
Upfront, I have not fixed this but most definitely will. People see the title and think, what an odd combination and don't bother to read the recipe. If you don't like the combo, that's okay, but what people don't understand is that there are two great recipes here that can be fixed separately. Too bad folks, like so many things, can't see the individual beauty here.
J Gabert
Welcome to Southeast Wisconsin, where Friday night fish fries required spaghetti and marinara. Walleye, perch, and whitefish all came with a side of pasta. Thought it strange at first, but I still make it forty years later.
Carrie
I never heard of this type of Combination but I thought what the heck I love catfish and I love spaghetti so why not try them together. I made this for my daughter and son-in-law and it was a big hit served with a side of sautéed broccolini for some greens.
VicY.
You lost me at the meat sauce for the spaghetti! The fried fish deserves a marinara or any other meatless sauce. That said, I'm going to try the pairing soon.
Jeannie
My school cafeteria served fish and spaghetti on Fridays. The fish was a breaded square, but it was a decent attempt at the institutional level. Thank goodness we had the real thing at our family reunions.
MaryFrances
I made thr catfish tonight and it was great. We will have to try it with Spaghetti after Lent.
Valerie
This was absolutely delicious, might be the best spaghetti I've ever had. The catfish was also good, even though I misread the ingredients and used a more coarse grits grind of cornmeal. Otherwise I followed the recipe. So good.
Megan
My Nana used to make this. Fried whiting with spaghetti and an iceberg lettuce salad lol. It was delicious. This is so nostalgic.
This takes me back
In the fall and winter my church used to serve fried catfish, chicken, spaghetti and sauteed cabbage with sweet potato and pecan pie as desserts. I miss living in the south sometimes.
Aaron
Being from Tennessee, I had never had grits for anything but breakfast, until my dad, and evangelist, was preaching in little Alva, Florida. And once I had grits with fish, it worked.But in the "real" South, catfish is one dinner, spaghetti is another. Of course, those of us who eat cold pizza for breakfast really can't complain, can we?In the real south, it's mild white fish (ideally, Key West grunt), grits, french fries, slaw, baked beans, hush puppies, and ice cold sweet tea.
Jeannie
I just love when southerners debate what is "the real south." A woman in GA told me TN (my mother's home) and NC (my father's home) were not the real south. The Confederacy would beg to differ.
Afi
I grew up in the real South. Fried fish and spaghetti with cole slaw and hot water cornbread are as real a Southern dinner as it gets. Also real South is chittlings, spaghetti, cole slaw and hot water corn bread. Fish and grits is a Florida/South Carolina thing, as I best I can tell.
Mary from Terry, MS
What a treat to see this recipe here. I grew up eating this combination which is still served in many southern restaurants. Our public school cafeteria served these two options on Fridays when Catholics were supposed to abstain from meat. Many Protestant children loved the combination, including me!
inframan
Fried/sauteed fish *and* ground beef/turkey/sausage. I guess I'll pass, thanks. Already had one bypass operation.
Golem18
No bypass but I'll pass. It's not even the health issue as much as ingredients that simply don't work together. I'd do the fish which looks like a good recipe as does the pasta. But together just doesn't work.
Mollyo
So you haven't made the dish and don't like even the idea of it? Gotta wonder why anyone thinks that's "helpful".
Mayor McCheese
Thanks to all the heroes who saw "fried" in the title and came here to virtue-comment.
Pat
I grew up eating fish and spaghetti. My mother was from NC, but I grew up in an predominantly Italian neighborhood in NJ. I love fish and spaghetti, we didn't have catfish in the 50's but we ate it with whiting.
Joyce
Can't get catfish where I live. What can I substitute?
Fxfxrorthogal
Tilapia, flounder or cod would work
Sissy Ashby
Although my mother, who was from Mobile, was Episcopalian not Catholic, we always had fried fish and spaghetti for Friday night supper.Think I’ll try it myself this Friday.
Private notes are only visible to you.
