I thought I was your fish cake!**

Assiduous devotes of my Internet presence will remember that I have a particular fondness for making fritters with leftover fish. Over the weekend S and I cooked some Shad (so delicious! I'd never tried it before). We just broiled it for a couple minutes with butter and lemon. The fish was super tasty, but I just wasn't jazzed about eating a plain fillet leftover. Somehow the texture of reheated fish just doesn't appeal. And so last night I put together this easy dinner of fish cakes and salad.

Fish Cakes a la Rose

This can be done with any leftover fish. I've used sea bass, imitation crab meat and even swordfish. The rice works well as a binding agent and, conveniently, it is often my starch of choice for a fish dinner. You can get crazy with adding veggies, but don't go too over the top or you will ruin your texture.

Some leftover fish (we'll say 8 oz?)
Some leftover rice (we'll say 1/3 cup?)
3 Scallions (diced)
1 Clove garlic (a small one, minced)
Grated zest of half a lemon
2 tbs. chopped parsley
Bread crumbs*
An egg
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil suitable for frying

-Flake the fish so it is in manageable chunks. If you're using something denser it might make sense to dice, but generally all cooked fish can be broken up with a fork.

-Mix in the rice, scallions, garlic and lemon zest.

-Adjust seasoning by tasting first, then adding salt and pepper (the fish is already seasoned, so you don't want to go overboard).

-Mix in the egg. The mixture will be wet and uniform.

-Form into balls of about 2 tbs. each. Flatten the balls into patties and drag each side through bread crumbs.

-Chill formed patties in the fridge for about 30 mins. (this step can be skipped, but it does really help the fish cakes stay together in the pan).

-Heat up some olive oil and fry the cakes.

-Serve with salad and maybe hot sauce. I made a little dressing for the cakes with three parts low fat yogurt, one part Dijon mustard, one part mayonnaise and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.



The recipe made five fish cakes. Though I have to warn you, I measured absolutely nothing.

*I hate setting up my food processor for small tasks, so I made the bread crumbs using the end of a loaf of sandwich bread and a box grater. It was pretty successful.

**You are all so lucky I didn't call this post "Hanging Shad" or "Not Too Shaddy!" Additionally, I am the reigning queen of asterisks.

***This would be very easy to do gluten free by dredging the cakes in a rice (or whatever) flour.

****(Record postscript use!) Shad has tiny bones! Last night when I was flossing (maybe 4 hours after I finished dinner) I found a bone lodged between my teeth. So be careful!