Pecan Crusted Catfish

  Today's pecan recipe is different from what is usually featured on here.  Instead of being a sweet or a snack, it's an actual meal.  This catfish, dressed with pecans, is a little salty, a little sweet and all the way delicious.  The perfect home cooked meal all year round.

Pecan Crusted Catfish
provided by Andy Peterson
YEILDS 4 SERVINGS

INGREDIENTS:
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. butter, melted
salt and pepper
4 catfish fillets
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Ritz cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400°.  Combine lemon juice and 2 teaspoon of melted butter in 12x8 inch baking dish.  Salt and pepper fillets and spread mayonnaise over "bone" side.  Arrange fish in baking dish.  Combine cracker crumbs, pecans, and 3 tablespoons melted butter; sprinkle over fillets.  Bake catfish for 12 to 15 minutes or until fish flakes.

Warm Fudge-Filled Cheesecake

  It's November!  That means that our recipes this month will all have pecans in them (except for the Sunday recipes).  Today's recipe is one that is a favorite in my family.  For as long as I can remember, my dad has been making this cheesecake and it was actually the cake that converted me from a cheesecake hater to a cheesecake lover.  With the chocolate center of this cake, you can either eat it warm, with the chocolate melted, or eat it cold.  Both ways are just as delicious, though personally molten chocolate is my downfall.

  While making this cheesecake, we tried to combine two leftover bags of chocolate hoping it would be enough.  It wasn't.  The pictures below reflect the lack of chocolate.  Where normally there would be a whole layer of chocolate there are just a sprinkle of the chocolate mini-morsels.  It was still extremely tasty (I think there is about 1/2 of the cake left and it was just made three days ago).  This go-to recipe is perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, basically any special occasion or even a non-occasion.  You can pair this cake with any drink you would like.  It especially goes well with Cognac or a nice red wine.

  The next few pecan recipes will be more pecan based, but this delicious treat was too yummy to not pass on.  It's not to late to send in your pecan recipes or you could start sending in cookie recipes for December!  Our December recipes will be centered around Christmas cookies so that we can get into the Christmas spirit.  I don't know about you, but as a sweet lover, I'm really looking forward to December.

Warm Fudge-Filled Cheesecake

from Southern Living January 1998 Cookbook

YEILDS: 12 servings

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup butter or margarine, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup chopped pecans

4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate mini-morsels

Sweetened whipped cream (optional)

Garnish: chocolate shavings

DIRECTIONS:

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; add 1/3 cup of sugar, beating well.  Gradually add flour, beating at low speed until blended.  Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla and pecans.  Press into bottom and 1 ½ inches up sides of a 9-inch springform pan.  Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden.  Cool on a wire rack.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; gradually add 1 ½ cups sugar, beating well.   Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears.  Stir in remaining 2 tsp. vanilla.  (Do not overmix.) 

Pour half of batter into prepared crust; sprinkle with chocolate morsels to within ¾ inch of edge.  Pour in remaining batter, starting at outer edge and working toward center.  Place cheesecake on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until set.  Cool cheesecake on a wire rack 1 hour.  Serve slightly warm with sweetened whipped cream, if desired.  Garnish, if desired.  

Brandy Old Fashioned

  This Thirsty Thursday recipe comes to us from a reader.  This timeless classic hasn't been made popular like the Martini ("shaken, not stirred"), but it has stuck around for quite some time.  While it might not be the trendiest drink around, the Brandy Old Fashioned could easily because your drink of choice.  

Brandy Old Fashioned
provided by John Rawlsky

INGREDIENTS:
1 tsp. granulated sugar
2 dashes bitters
1 1/2 ounces brandy
7-Up
Orange slice
Maraschino cherry

DIRECTIONS:
Spoon sugar into one 6 ounce cocktail glass.   Add bitters.  Dissolve quickly with a splash of 7-Up, then add brandy, followed by ice cubes.  Top off with 7-Up and garnish with an orange slice and maraschino cherry on a tooth pick.  (Good bartenders skewer the orange slice from bottom to top with the cherry in the middle, which they call a "flag.")  Enjoy.

Reader Recipe Contest!

  Click Magazine wants to hear from and feature you.  On Facebook this morning we announced a new contest for reader recipes.  We have been blessed so far to always have a contributing audience.  Previously, you have sent in reader recipes for us to choose from, but now we are taking a different approach.  While you are still contributing we are running a contest each month for the best recipes in a certain category.  One recipe will be featured in the magazine and four to five recipes will be spotlighted here, on the blog.
  We have the blog ready to feature a weekly reader recipe.  October is "pumpkin month" in honor of Halloween and general decor.  While the recipes we've posted so far have been from various sources, we already are featuring some from our readers.  Ideally, we will test the recipes ourselves, so we won't be suggesting something we haven't already tried.
  November's recipe theme is pecans anything and everything pecans.  Basically, if you use pecans as an ingredient, your recipe is fair game.  The blog featured Maple Pecan Scones last Sunday, so keep that in mind as you start sending in recipes.  We honestly can't wait to hear from you.  Please send all the recipes to recipes@myclickmag.com.  The deadline for November submissions is October 31, but start sending in your delicious recipes now.
  We hope you like this new way of doing things, and if you do, show it by sending recipes and telling all your friends.  If your recipe doesn't get featured this month, don't worry we start the December contest as soon as the November one ends.  While we aren't at liberty to fully disclose the theme, let's just say here at the office in December we're going to be eating a good number of sweets.
  Here's to a very pecan-filled Thanksgiving and November.

(Photo Credit)