“The catfish is plenty good enough fish for anyone.” – Mark Twain
I prepared this dish tonight for dinner for the first time and would rate it an 8 or 9 out of a 10 high! It is cheesy, smooth & creamy and very tasty in the fact that it doesn’t have that strong “fishy” taste that some other Catfish dishes do. My wife didn’t care for the sun-dried tomatoes so am listing them as “optional.” I really like this recipe because it requires minimal prep time and everything goes into the oven raw and bakes in just ten minutes! The inspiration for this recipe came from AlyonasCooking.com with her, “Creamy Baked Tilapia Spinach Recipe.” I opted to change from Tilapia to farm raised Catfish because Catfish is plentiful and affordable in Texas and I know where it was raised.
About Catfish … most commercially (farm raised) marketed Catfish in the U.S. comes from Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. It is actually healthier and safer for human consumption because, unlike wild-caught Catfish, there is little chance of unsafe mercury levels in the farm raised products.
About Tilapia … less than 5% of the Tilapia sold in the U.S. comes from the U.S. This means that more than 95% comes from elsewhere and most of that is from China. I encourage you to Google, “tilapia raised in China,” and, afterwards, if you still want to chance eating Chinese farmed Tilapia, then more power to you! Personally, I like to believe that most of the Tilapia we are served in Mexican food restaurants comes from Central & South America but I still try to avoid it if I can. Remember, unless the label includes, “Farm raised in the U.S.,” or wording to that effect, you probably should avoid purchasing it!