Subtle House's Cookbook

Note: The coating can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container. It keeps until the almond flour's expiration date.

Note: You can skip the pre-coating and egg wash steps if you want, but the coating won't be as thick or crispy.

Ingredients

Meat
6 to 8 catfish filets*, or 8 to 12 skinless bone-in or boneless chicken thighs

* If using larger slabs of fresh fish from the fish market, carefully trim away all dark meat and blood, cut into even-sized filets, soak in ginger ale (yes, really!) or lemon water for about 15 minutes, and rinse well. Then proceed as you would with supermarket-style filets.

Coating
3 cups almond flour
2 Tbsp fresh minced thyme, or 2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp fresh minced oregano, or 1 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp mustard powder
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp black pepper
.5 tsp garlic powder
.5 tsp onion powder

Other
Cooking spray
2 eggs
2 Tbsp soy milk
0.25 c GF all-purpose flour

Equipment

4-cup airtight storage container
Tray
Large bowl
Whisk or spoon
Pie plate or other large pan
Measuring spoons and cups
Baking sheet
Oven-safe wire rack
Aluminum foil
Wax paper (optional)
Oven
Meat thermometer

Steps

0) Mise en place. Gather and measure your ingredients. Trim the meat and pat it dry. Preheat the oven to 425F for chicken or 475F for fish. Line the baking sheet with foil and put the wire rack on it. Line the tray with wax paper or foil. Put the all-purpose flour in the large bowl. Put the ingredients for the coating in the storage container, seal tightly, and shake until well mixed. Measure about half a cup of the coating into the pie plate.

1) Pre-coat. Dip each piece of meat into the flour, coat it thoroughly, and place it on the tray. When all the meat is floured, rinse out the bowl. In the bowl, whisk together the eggs and soy milk.

2) Coat. For each piece of meat, dip it in the egg wash, let excess egg drip off, press one side firmly down into the coating, then flip over and repeat on the other side. Move the thoroughly coated meat to the wire rack. Add more coating to the plate as necessary.

3) Bake. Lightly spray the top of the meat with cooking spray. If using chicken, put a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the largest piece, being careful not to put it against the bone. Put the tray with the wire rack in the oven. Bake fish at 475F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Bake chicken at 425F until internal temperature reaches 160F, then increase oven temp to 475F and bake until golden brown on the outside and 175F on the inside. For extra browning, finish under the broiler.

Sources:
http://www.southernwithatwist.com/recipes/almond-crusted-catfish
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/686-the-best-oven-fried-chicken
http://www.enjoy-how-to-cook.com/breading-chicken.html