I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try...: Pan-Fried Catfish (Repost)

I had this blogged about 7 months ago, but I've tweaked the recipe and I've actually had requests from people to post it, so why not?  I do have to give thanks and credit to my father-in-law, a former chef, who helped me figure out what was going wrong in my "technique" and recipe.  For awhile, the "shell" was flaking off during flipping of the fish and I ended up with pan-"half-fried" fish.  Also, my original recipe ended up being too bland.

Pan-Fried Catfish

1 lb catfish fillets
1 cup white cornmeal
0.25 cup white flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1.5 teaspoons Old Bay
0.5 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1.5 teaspoons Garlic Powder
1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
0.5 cup egg whites

1. Mix everything but the catfish and oil in a large bowl.  Toss well to make sure the spices are evenly mixed in the cornmeal and flour.
2. Pour the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper
3. In a bowl, pour the egg whites and add a "splash" of water to it
4. Using paper towels, pat dry the catfish fillets to remove any moisture
5. Run a fillet through the egg whites, drip dry it until the excess liquid mostly runs off, then roll the fillet in the cornmeal and flour mix.  Hand dust the fillet to make sure it gets entirely coated.
6. Repeat Step 5 with each fillet
7. Pour the oil into a large skillet and heat for 5 minutes on medium
8. Place each fillet in the skillet and cook for 5 minutes
9. Flip the fillets and cook on the other side for another 5 minutes
10. Continue flipping and cooking until the fillets are well cooked and starting to brown.  The cornmeal flour mixture should harden into a type of shell
11. When finished cooking, place the fillets in between two paper towels and pat dry the cookef fillets to remove oils

Per 4 oz fillet:

285 calories
15 g fat
15 carbs
23 g protein

Notes:

• The fat content on this is pretty high, but the majority of it comes from the fish oil, which is really good fat.  Worth it, in my opinion.  You could use a lower fat fish, but they're more bland also.  Catfish is by far my favorite.