When asked for a signature recipe, King obliged with an outline of the catfish dish:

1. take a farm-raised catfish

2. coat it with dijon mustard

3. place coated fish in pearly meal (flour, corn meal, and ground pecans)

4. sautee the fish until the nut mixture gives the fish a crispy coating (a couple of minutes)

5. finish fish in the oven (4-7 minutes)

6. when dish comes out of the oven, take the pan drippings and combine with lemon juice, dijon mustard, and a bit of parsley for a pan sauce

7. total time -- 6-8 minutes

As for the side dishes that complement the catfish, King pointed out that their stewed collard greens were vegetarian, unlike the typical Southern-style greens cooked with ham hocks. King stews the greens for several hours until tender, with red pepper flakes, brown sugar, vinegar, and whole coriander seed. The other side dish, black-eyed peas, takes only a half hour or so: she cooks them with cinnamon, garlic, and red pepper flakes. For all dishes, she said, salt and pepper to taste.