Som s beloy fasolyu: Catfish as served in Russia

My family has hosted exchange students for as long as I can remember.  It was great, because we weren't really able to travel ourselves, but we were able to, through hosting, bring the world to our home.  A couple years ago (gosh, it's already been about 3 years since she left!), we hosted a student from Russia.  We got along pretty well, even before she arrived.  We exchanged emails and talked about what we enjoyed.  And she apparently took notes, because she arrived with a tea set and a cookbook--Culinaria Russia--for me, both of which were a bit of a trick.  I'm not sure how to pack a set of porcelain so that it can survive baggage handlers at 4 or 5 airports.  And the cookbook was the envy of all the other exchange students; they'd sought such an item in vain.  Something about Russians don't need recipes for local food in a foreign language.  Go figure.

But anyway, the cookbook is great.  It's divided into regions (some of which are only historically part of Russia), and then within each of those regions, there is discussion of the local food and the customs associated with it.  It's partly a cookbook, but also a scholarly exploration of the people and places behind the cooking.  Fan-tastic!

The following is a slight alteration of recipe from the Russia portion of the book, for catfish with white beans.

Som s beloy fasolyu
1 C dried white beans
salt
2 catfish fillets
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
1 garlic clove
1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 Tbsp oil
pepper
crusty bread

Soak the beans overnight, drain, then cook in salted, boiling water until tender.  (This will take some time, plan on it taking all afternoon; if they are cooked too soon, it's Ok, just drain them and set them aside until you need them.)

Cut the onion in half, and place one half in a pan with the catfish.  Roughly chop or break into pieces the celery and carrot, and add those to the pan.  Cover everything with water, add a bit of salt to taste, and bring to a gentle boil.  Simmer until the veggies have softened and the fish has fully cooked.  Remove the fish from the resultant broth, cut into pieces and set it aside.

Dice the other half of the onion and mince the garlic.  Over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the oil, and sauté the onion and garlic.  Take a small handful of the beans (about 3 Tbsp), smash them, and add them to the onion and garlic.  (Really, you can add the beans and then smash them.)  Gently fold in the fish pieces and remaining beans.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve over toasted slices of good bread.

I've omitted from the original recipe some fresh parsley and parsley root, because I wasn't able to find those at the grocery store (I've never seen parsley root, and they were out of parsley sprigs.)  I've also heavily scaled down on everything but the beans.  This recipe fed myself and my husband with enough left over that I got two more lunches out of it.  Depending on the appetites of who you're serving, then, the recipe above serves 3 or 4 people.

I've always eaten catfish battered and fried and paired with something zingy or tangy to balance that muddy flavor they have.  This recipe (clearly) is different.   I really liked it.  Yes, you can still taste where the catfish was living, but the other flavors balance it out nicely rather than covering it up.  I was surprised how delicious I found it, especially given how few ingredients I seemed to have used.  Ultimately, I was only eating beans, fish, onion, and garlic, but it was rich and tasty, like comfort food without the guilt.

So thanks, Nan!  I have always loved the cookbook, and I think this recipe is fabulous.  I bet you'd just about die laughing at me trying to pronounce the Russian name.