Catfish Chowder

In the past few weeks, I've found incredible deals on both frozen catfish (2 pounds for $6) and baking potatoes (10 pounds for 97 cents). So my recipes have been revolving around catfish and potatoes, this week.

I found a recipe for Catfish chowder on Allrecipes.com. While the recipe has 5 star reviews, I wasn't too thrilled with it. It came out very thin and watery, definitely not a chowder. We ended up making some rice and served it over rice, so it was more of a Chicken a la King (with catfish) dish, or like a pot pie over rice.

However, today we heated up the leftovers and it was delicious! Thick, creamy, and just full of flavor. So I would definitely recommend the recipe, but it's much better the 2nd day.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup sliced baby carrots
• 2 medium potatoes, cubed
• 3 cups milk, divided
• 1/3 cup cake flour
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon salt - I ended up using about 3 teaspoons of salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds catfish fillets, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, melt butter and saute the onion until tender. Pour in chicken broth and water. Mix in celery, carrots, and potatoes. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups milk and cake flour. Mix into the Dutch oven.

3. Mix remaining milk, celery salt, salt, and pepper into the Dutch oven. Stirring occasionally, continue cooking the mixture about 10 minutes, until thickened.

4. Stir catfish into the mixture, and cook 5 minutes, or until fish is easily flaked with a fork. Mix in Cheddar cheese, and cook another 5 minutes, until melted.