SHOW & RECIPE FOR MARCH 22

A WINE AND FOOD MINGLE
In our first-ever Delicious Mischief broadcast from the lovely hills and lakes of Marble Falls, we report on a remarkable phenomenon. After years of relying on barbecue and chicken fried steak, the town has gone stylish. And that means chic wine bars like The Falls can hope to stay in business a good long time.

BLAST FROM THE PAST
Before we get too giddy about the future, though, let’s enjoy a heapin’ helpin’ of where Marble Falls has come from. We sit down at a table with the owner of the Bluebonnet Café, a place that’s been serving delicious diner-style Texas food for something like 80 years. What’s not to like about a place that does “Pie Happy Hour”?

909 IS MORE THAN A SONG
The Beatles did a song about “the one after 909,” whatever that meant to them at the time. But in Marble Falls, Café 909 is a stylish restaurant dishing up some stylish and innovative cuisine. We chat with the chef-owner about the challenges of doing food worthy of a new generation.

GENERAL PATTON’S STARS
We end today’s show where many think the “new food” movement in Marble Falls began: at a restaurant called Patton’s on Main. The chef-owner here cut his teeth in Oxford, Miss., after attending Ole Miss and refined his craft under Wolfgang Puck in Las Vegas. But as so often happens when Texans start having a family somewhere else, it seems like time to come home.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
CATFISH CAKES

1 pound fresh catfish fillets
Water
4 teaspoons oil, for sautéing
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons green pepper, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
4 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
½ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoon s Dijon mustard
1 cup dried bread crumbs
2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed lime juice
4 teaspoons Creole seasoning
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoon s dried basil, crumbled
Oil for frying
2 cups all-purpose flour

Poach catfish in a large pot of boiling water for about 15 or 20 minutes, or until the fish begins to flake with a fork. Drain poached fish in a colander, and place it on a baking sheet to cool. In a large skillet, sauté onions and peppers in oil for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft, and set aside. Take the cooled catfish and crumble it by hand in a large bowl. Add beaten eggs to the bowl of crumbled fish. Add cooked onions and peppers to the fish and eggs. Add remaining ingredients to fish and mix well by hand to create a cake-like mixture.

Form mixture into 6 to 10 equal-sized rounds and place on a baking sheet until ready to fry. In a cast-iron skillet or deep fryer, heat oil to about 350 degrees. Just before frying, thoroughly dust each catfish cake with flour. Fry the cakes in the hot oil until they are golden brown all over, rolling them frequently. Depending on your frying apparatus, this should take about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the cooked catfish cakes on paper towels. Best when served immediately, but you can reserve them in baking dish in a warm oven until ready to serve. Serve with your favorite tartar sauce. Makes 8-10 cakes.