Celebrating A Big Birthday!

Judy helps Joe blow out the candles!

Our friend, Joe Hammond just turned 94…that’s a lot to celebrate! So my girlfriend, Debby thought a cocktail party was in order. Everyone participated in the food and it was all delicious! My contribution were the fish cakes.

I was lucky enough to find fresh sea bass from Mexico at my local market. Traditionally fish cakes are made with cod, but you can use any fish you like, even salmon. I used the ingredients I generally use for crab cakes, but they work very well for fish cakes, too. I like them better than the classic mashed potato fish cake recipe. These are almost all fish with very little filler.

Fish Cake Ingredients:
1 lb. white fish, chopped
1/4 cup Red Bell pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup Green Bell pepper
Scant 1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 egg, slightly beaten
Dash Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tsp. mustard
1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs, more for crusting
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. oil/1 Tbsp. butter for frying

Preparation:
Finely chop the fish. Add all other ingredients and mix gently, but thoroughly. The mixture will be quite loose. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and liberally cover with Panko bread crumbs. Using your hands, form small, bite-sized cakes. Press the cakes into the Panko turning so both sides are covered.

Place the fish cakes in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. In the meantime make the…

Ingredients:
2 roasted Poblanos
1/4 lb. cream cheese
1 Tbsp. Mexican crema, or heavy cream
Salt/Pepper to taste

Preparation:
Roast the Poblano peppers on stove-top if you have a gas range or under the broiler until they are very charred on all sides. Use tongs to turn the peppers. Carefully cover (either in a brown paper bag or big piece of foil) and let cool completely before peeling and seeding.

Scrape off the charred skin. Remove seeds, white spline and stem. Add the peppers, cream cheese, Mexican crema, salt and pepper to blender or food processer and blend until very smooth.

Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Bring the fish cakes to room temp. Heat oil and butter in a frying pan and fry the cakes in small batches. Cook the fish cakes for about 3-4 minutes per side until cooked through and golden brown.

Arrange on a tray and put a dollop of Roasted Poblano Cream Sauce on each fish cake.

This is only a fraction of the food served at Joe’s party. We also had filet mignon bites topped with gorgonzola; beautifully steamed shrimp with two different dipping sauces; luxurious liver pate; ham and manchego cheese cooked on the raclette and more!

Deb made the cake!