Catfish Cheeks with Easy Lemon Caper Sauce
This one-pan wonder is a quick and delicious way to serve Catfish Cheeks, ready in under 15 minutes. Get ready to have your taste buds do a happy dance with this zesty and delicious lemon caper sauce! With just five ingredients, the lemon caper sauce packs a punch of flavor that will make this catfish recipe sing. I fell in love with walleye Cheeks and halibut Cheeks while working restaurants years ago. But with a current price of about $30/pound, I can't EVER afford to indulge myself anymore with a wife, daughter, and a mortgage. Until I discovered I could harvest the catfish cheeks from the many fish I catch in the Red River just 5 minutes from my house here in Fargo, North Dakota. This catfish recipe is perfect for a small plate appetizer for a stay-at-home date night with that special someone.HOW TO CATCH CATFISHCatfishing gets a bad rap, but learning how to catch a catfish is still a ton of fun. It's extremely easy to catch channel catfish on the Red River here in Fargo, North Dakota.A channel catfish weighing north of 15 pounds isn’t uncommon to catch on the Red River of the North. Even though the average fish will usually fall in the 1- to 5-pound range, you only need to catch a couple of these to create lots of great fish recipes. And although the Red River is a pretty muddy environment, I've never caught a channel catfish that didn't end up being absolutely delicious!Any spinning or baitcasting reel will work when trying to catch channel catfish. 20-pound braided fishing line is ideal, as it provides strength and better hook sets due it its lack of stretch. My favorite rig is a slip sinker rig which starts with a slinker slide slid down the braid followed by a plastic bead to prevent chaffing of the line. Next, tie a barrel swivel to the end of your braid, then tie a 1- to 2-foot length of 20-pound flourocarbon leader material to the other side of the swivel. Finish with a size 1 circle hook and clip a 1-ounce bank sinker to the sinker slide. As for bait, there’s not much a channel catfish won’t eat. We use nightcrawlers from the compost pile in our garden, duck and goose livers I save from hunting, and the occasional frog my daughter catches on the river bank.HOW TO COOK CATFISH CHEEKSSimply seared, the catfish cheeks cook quickly and tend to leave golden bits stuck to the bottom of the pan – the perfect starter for an easy lemon caper sauce that you can make by simply adding a handful of ingredients.Capers are already extremely salty, so using unsalted butter here is the best choice.1. Pat the catfish cheeks dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with kosher salt 30 minutes before cooking and let rest at room temperature.2. Pat the fish dry again with a paper towel.3. Season with black pepper.4. Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Melt 2 Tablespoons butter and 1 Tablespoon olive oil, then add minced garlic and let the garlic flavor the butter for 1 minute.5. Place catfish cheeks in a single layer in the hot pan with bubbly butter and cook for about 2 minutes. Tilt the pan slightly so you can scoop up the butter with a spoon and baste the fish while it's cooking.6. Using a fish spatula, flip the catfish cheeks and cook for an additional 2 minutes, constantly basting with the hot butter until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F and the outsides are golden brown.7. Transfer catfish cheeks to a plate and let rest for a few minutes while you make the sauce.8. In the same nonstick frying pan, melt another 4 Tablespoons of butter over low heat.9. Once melted, add the capers and garlic. Bring to a simmer, and continue cooking until fragrant, about 1 minute.10. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and parsley. 11. Plate the catfish cheeks, spoon the lemon caper sauce over them, and serve immediately.MORE FISH RECIPESIf you'd like to host your own Lenten fish fry at home and are looking for more great ways to use some of that fish in your freezer, be sure and check out some of our favorite fish recipes:Catfish "Scallops"Catfish CakesPotato Crusted FishLahori FishFish PozoleSalmon ChowderFish TacosPickled Northern PikePescado FritoCOME TO NORTH DAKOTA TO CATCH CATFISHIf you would like to visit North Dakota and experience an amazing fishing experience trying your hand at catching some giant catfish, check out details at the North Dakota Game & Fish Department website.CONNECT WITH ME AND JOIN OUR WILD GAME COOKING COMMUNITYIf you make this Lemon Caper Sauce, I’d love for you to join our community and connect with me so we can all see pics of your creations on Instagram and Facebook. When you post a pic of your finished dish on Instagram, be sure and use the hashtag #wildgameandfish and then tag me @wildgameandfish so I can share it on my Instagram stories.Did you enjoy this Easy Lemon Caper Sauce Recipe? Be sure to leave a 5-star rating RIGHT HERE!
Ingredients
Catfish Cheeks
- Catfish Cheeks from 2 – 3 large catfish
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
Lemon Caper Sauce
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons jarred capers, drained
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
Instructions
- Pat the catfish cheeks dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with kosher salt 20 minutes before cooking and let rest at room temperature.
- Pat the fish dry again with a paper towel.
- Season with black pepper.
- Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Melt 2 Tablespoons butter and 1 Tablespoon olive oil, then add minced garlic and let the garlic flavor the butter for 1 minute.
- Place catfish cheeks in a single layer in the hot pan with bubbly butter and cook for about 2 minutes. Tilt the pan slightly so you can scoop up the butter with a spoon and baste the fish while it's cooking.
- Using a fish spatula, flip the catfish cheeks and cook for an additional 2 minutes, constantly basting with the hot butter until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F and the outsides are golden brown.
- Transfer catfish cheeks to a plate and let rest for a few minutes while you make the sauce.
- In the same nonstick frying pan, melt another 4 Tablespoons of butter over low heat.
- Once melted, add the capers and garlic. Bring to a simmer, and continue cooking until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and parsley.
- Plate the catfish cheeks, spoon the lemon caper sauce over them, and serve immediately.
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