Fish Cakes (That Could Make a Crab Cake Jealous)

why do crab cakes get all the glory what about fish cakes I love fish cakes and I don't see any reason why crab cakes can be served in fancy restaurants for $30 an entree while fish cakes are always reduced to I don't know a way of dealing with fish leftovers so today I hope to introduce you to the fish cakes worthy of a special occasion it all depends on the fish you make them from I learned this one summer when a few students didn't show up to a fish grilling class and we ended up with too much fish I mean how else would I end up with striped bass and branzino leftovers good fish is so expensive that I usually buy exactly the amount I plan to use the wonderful thing about having more fish per student than I planned was that the students who did show up got more grilling practice but no matter how good that fish was it was only so much we could eat in one sitting so here I was with leftover striper and I did what I always do with fish leftovers I turned it into fish cakes but this fish cakes weren't just a nice casual meal they were amazing they reminded me of crab cakes because of their texture in fact they were so good I sometimes buy and cook extra striper on purpose just to make them of course the same exact recipe works with absolutely any fish left overs that are not too firm in other words avoid swordfish tuna and monkfish I have a few lot of rules about fish cakes you have to make them before you refrigerate the fish leftovers if you put your fish leftovers in the fridge they firm up the juices turn into jello and it's really hard to integrate them with other ingredients after the fish cakes are made they have to sit in the fridge overnight for at least six hours to that completely otherwise they'll fall apart and depend when you fry them okay so I have about a pound of cooked striped bass and red snapper here and as I mentioned before any fish that is not completely formed will work the fish can be cooked any which way you want if you're not sure how to cook striped bass here is a video that will help discard the skin and bones and place the fish in a bowl add 25 grams of minced red onions shallots or scallions yellow onions are more aggressive so if you want to use them you'd have to cook them in a bit of olive oil or butter first I like to add some chopped herbs today I'm using cilantro and chives but you can also use dill and tarragon basically any herb of your trees the amount is completely up to you this is not a baking recipe normally I don't measure anything for something like this but I weighed the most of these ingredients just for you I forgot to weigh cilantro and chives because seriously who weighs herbs okay let's dump in all the chopped stuff and move on to the binders we'll need about 1/3 of a cup of mayo about two tablespoons of labneh or sour cream or creme fraiche just something milky and creamy one tablespoon of Dijon mustard about 1/4 cup of panko breadcrumbs and freshly ground black pepper to give my kicks a smoky taste I like to add some Spanish smoked paprika for aroma I create in a little bit of lemon or lime zest half a lime is plenty here and some juice of whatever citrus you're using I'll go with half a lime and then taste and adjust you want to mix the world but leave some fish and biggish chunks I think the texture is a lot better when it's not completely homogeneous don't forget to taste and adjust for salt and acidity mine needed a bit of malt grab a cookie sheet and line it with plastic wrap foil or parchment paper - 13 by 9 inches but any flat surface that can hold the and one layer will work you can even use a cutting board I am using a cookie cutter to shape my kicks but you can certainly just take handfuls of the fish mixture and Pat it into cakes using your hands make sure you pack the mixture tightly into the cookie cutter so that the fish cakes don't fall apart my cookie cutter is 2 and 3/4 inches in diameter but anything less than 3 inches will work 1 pound the fish will produce 6 appetizer portions of three entrees I like to go over all the top edges to make them a bit more beveled this ensures that my fish cakes will make good contact with the skillet when the time comes to fry them cover the fish cakes with plastic and put in the fridge overnight or up to 2 days when you're ready to serve the cakes pour some panko bread crumbs onto a plate and coat the cakes on both sides pressing firmly to help the bread crumbs stick and when I call for panko bread crumbs I mean it they produce way better crunch than any other bread crumbs you can make any changes to this recipe you want but please don't mess with panko bread crumbs I like to serve my cakes with smoky mayo I don't know a sandwich that wouldn't be better with smoked you mail so even if you don't make the fish cakes I hope this may you still useful take a third of a cup of your favorite meal I'm using Hellmann's I had a teaspoon of Dijon mustard one small garlic clove greater than a microplane zester you only need like a quarter of a teaspoon a dash of Spanish smoked paprika black pepper and you can also add cayenne if you wanted spicy and a squirt of lime or lemon for a city mix it all up and adjust salt to taste my needed a little pinch let's try it again good if I'm serving the fish cakes on buns I like to toast the buns before I cook the kicks this way I can place the cake straight to the buns let's melt a bit of butter in a pan of a medium heat to toast our brioche bun if you're ever wondering what a brioche bun is missing it's more butter in fact if there is ever void in your life that no amount of therapy can fill trust me it can be filled with butter beautiful okay now let's wipe out the pan and add a bit of canola or some other neutral oil about two teaspoons per fish cake place the cakes in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes until the bottom is nice and crisp you want this to take a couple of minutes so that the inside warms through to so regulate your heat appropriately flip the cake and brown on the other side for a couple of minutes that looks good let's get it out sauce the bandwidth at addictive smoke email tap with the fish cake and some cute green thingies you can just use lettuce but I'm using pea shoots because I lucked out and found some in the store move over crab cakes here come the cakes made from striped bass and if I were chef Jon I'd say they kick ass another great way to serve fish cakes is to turn them into eggs benedict their texture makes a perfect bed for a poached egg and hollandaise sauce no bun just fish cake egg and sauce and maybe like a little bit of asparagus on the side and that my friends is a killer brunch for more fish recipes don't forget to subscribe to Helens kitchen channel and hit that little Bell button for notifications and if you are ever in the Boston area maybe I'll see you in one of my classes

Channel: Helen Rennie

Views: 28,847

Rating: 4.9413409 out of 5

Keywords: fish cakes, fish burgers, striped bass cakes, bass cakes, snapper cakes, how to use fish leftovers, fish leftovers, fish leftover ideas, salmon cakes

Id: LvKOOpByqmo

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 26 2019