Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Pan-Fried Cod Cakes


After some weird culinary creations in the kitchen this week (a slimy Mexican pepper casserole tops the list)which I attribute to my annual coldest-week-of-the-year head cold, I did manage to produce a proper dinner with this recipe from my card file. If I had enough strength to want to wash up the components of my food processor I would probably have used that to mince up the cod cake ingredients, but I was daunted by even thinking of that potential energy expenditure and ended up just rough chopping everything with my favorite kitchen knife with good results.

The sauce, however, received horrible reviews all around so I would dispense with that next time, although I slogged through and ate it as I thought the raw garlic and lemon juice would help unclog my head. Couple with a restorative eight-hour sleep last night, I would have to say the medicinal benefits were proven in my case, but if you do not need such therapeutics, best avoid this sour sauce. A good glug of hot sauce would be an improvement.

Pan-Fried Cod Cakes

1-1/2 lbs. cod, chopped or minced
1 cup fresh gluten-free bread crumbs (I used bits of white sandwich bread and the heel of a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, raisins mostly pulled out, and the extra spice was really nice)
1 egg, beaten
1 small onion, grated
2 Tbsp. parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Olive oil
Brown Rice Flour

Sauce ingredients:

1 baked potato, pureed (I boiled up a dice potato and then mashed it)
4 cloves garlic, put through the garlic press
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt to taste

Combine cod, crumbs, egg, onion, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Shape into 6-8 patties and dredge in flour. Heat olive oil in frying pan and saute patties, in two batches, for 3-5 minutes each side.

Make medicinal sauce out of ingredients and serve on the side, if you are sick.

Serves 4-6.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

The sauce you made is called Skordalia - it's a Greek potato and garlic dip that is delicious on crusty bread (too bad about the gluten), thinly sliced fried zucchini (kolokithakia), or home-made french fries (patates tiganites). Try it again with a Greek friend to provide guidance and atmosphere. It's delish.

Rachel said...

I did wonder why this sauce was not delicious since all the constituents are yummy by themselves, but perhaps if I halved the amount of lemon and garlic it would be more palatable to me? I will give Skordalia another whirl sometime, perhaps with fried zucchini as you recommend. Thank you for your insightful comment.

-Rachel

Unknown said...

Ha! Skordalia can definitely knock your socks off if you're not expecting it. Recipes vary widely, so you can play with the amounts of lemon and garlic until you get a combo that's right for you. Every Greek grandma tweaks her recipe depending on what she has on hand, so you can also experiment with wine vinegar instead of lemon and GF bread instead of potatoes. You can even add almond flour, although that adds a grainy consistency.