Recipe: Herbed Fish Cakes

Howdy all,

I have been and will continue to test out some new recipes to add to my cooking repertoire and I will be sharing them with you as I go. Tonight I made these Herbed Fish Sticks and Creamy Cheese Polenta (that I will post later). I tell ya, I am not one of those people who goes into a restaurant and orders crab cakes...it doesn't even float my boat or hold any interest, but these intrigues me so I went for it. Its a take off of the classic crab cakes and I tell ya...I REALLY liked them! This is a Robin Miller recipe, she does the Quick Fix Meals show on Foot Network. I have one of her books and this is the new recipe I tried.

Herbed Fish Cakes:

Prep Time :15 minutes
Active Cooking Time 4-5 minutes
Walk Away Time 20 minutes (which is a perfect time to unload the dishwasher!)

Ingredients:
3.5 pounds of fresh or frozen halibut or cod filets or steaks, thawed and skin removed. I actually used Flounder filets, I had 12 4 oz filets that I bought at Sam's in one of those big bags.

1/2 cup light mayonnaise
6 tablespoons of seasoned dry bread crumbs (I used Panko bread crumbs instead and added in some extra seasons, plus a small hand full of grated Parmesan)
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley or less if you use dried
1 tablespoon of fresh basil or less is you use dried
1.5 teaspoons of Old Bay Seasoning
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place the fish in a large stockpot and pour enough water to cover. Set the pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until just fork tender, about 5 minutes. You could also cook the fish in a microwave if you prefer. Layer the fish in a microwave safe dish in a single layer, cover the dish with plastic wrap and microwave for 4 minutes until fork tender, add 1 minute increments if fish is not done.

Transfer the cooked fish to a large bowl, add in all the rest of the ingredients except for the olive oil. Mix until well blended and shape into 12 cakes about 1 inch thick. (At this point you can cover the cakes and freeze them for up to 3 months or put them in the fridge for up to 3 days.)

Heat the oil in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. Gently add the fish cakes one at a time and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Carefully flip them over when it has a nice crust...be very careful so they do not fall apart! Transfer the pan to the 400 degree oven and cook for 20 minutes more.

Mmmm, mmmm, good, look at that crusty yumness!

Once they are cooked, they can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months, thaw completely in the refridgerator or microwave for 3-5 minutes on low before using.

If you are a tartar sauce person, you will probably want some of that around but I thought they were great without the sauce. I was really pleased with how these turned out.

She suggests that you take leftovers and morph them into another complete meal, like by breaking up the cooked fish cakes and adding them to a salad with artichoke hearts and caper...or taking the fish cake mixture and stuffing bell peppers with it...or make a corn chowder and put the fish cakes in it for a fish and corn chowder.


Enjoy!

Heather

P.S. You might could also make these into fish cake "bites" and make them smaller and have them as an appetizer or for Superbowl food.