Crispy Roasted Fishcakes Wrapped in Bacon

Whenever we move houses, there are two books that come with me, in the suitcase, because I wouldn’t trust them to the shipment and I might need them right away.  This was especially true before the days of internet.  (And often the first weeks in a new home are like the days before internet.  We were fortunate here to have internet within a couple of days of moving in.  That doesn’t happen very often, believe me!)  My two essential books are the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, 1980 edition and my own binder full of personal, many irreplaceable, family recipes, collected over the last 30-something years.

This move, a couple of extra books joined that treasured literary pantheon:  Fried Chicken and Champagne and Jamie’s Great Britain, because they were much salivated over Christmas gifts and I couldn’t bear to put them in the shipment and not see them again for six weeks.  They have both been well-thumbed this last week and a half and now are duly bookmarked with sticky tabs. 

So many recipes I want to try!

Here, then, is the first attempt from my two wonderful gift books, a recipe adapted from Jamie.

Ingredients

100g or 3.5 oz smoked salmon

60g or 2 oz smoked herring fillets

(or 160g or 5.5 oz smoked fish of your choice – Jamie recommends just salmon or salmon and trout.  The herring fillets were a bit strong so I will probably try this again with just salmon.)

2 green onions (or more if yours are skinny)

Knob of butter 

Sea salt

Black pepper

340g or 12 oz potatoes

2 large eggs

1 small lemon

Handful celery leaves or flat leafed parsley

Handful plain flour

2 oz or 60g of breadcrumbs or 4 slices dry sandwich bread

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Olive oil

4 slices of bacon

Method

Cut the root end off of the green onions and slice them finely.  Sauté with a knob of butter, a drizzle of olive oil to stop the butter from burning and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Peel the potatoes and cut them in cubes.  Boil them in salted water until tender and mash-able.

Meanwhile, chop the smoked fish with a big knife.  Sure, you can do it with a small knife but it is not as satisfying as rocking a big knife under two hands. 

When the potatoes are cooked, drain them and mash them and leave them to cool a bit.

Chop your celery leaves or parsley.

Put your breadcrumbs (or four slices of sandwich bread) into the food processor with 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper.   Drizzle in a little olive oil while the thing is whizzing around until you have rough, ever so slightly moist breadcrumbs.

Break one egg into a shallow bowl.  Break the other egg and let the white fall into the same bowl.   Add the yolk to the cooled potato and mix thoroughly.

To the potatoes, add the fish, the green onions, the zest of your lemon, juice of half of your lemon and the celery or parsley.  Mix thoroughly.

Now divide your potato/fish mixture into four equal balls and shape them into patties.  Whisk your egg.

Now for my favorite part.  When I can add bacon to a recipe, I’m happy.  Spread a piece of cling film on your cabinet.  Add your bacon slices and top with another piece of cling film.  Using a rolling pin or wine bottle, roll your bacon to stretch it into longer pieces.   This really works!

Using your hands, lightly flour the patties and then put them into the egg.  Both sides.  This is going to get messy so don’t even try to keep clean.

Next pop them into the breadcrumbs and coat both sides well.  Return the patties to plate.

After all four are coated in breadcrumbs, wrap each one with a slice of bacon and secure with as many toothpicks as it takes.

Put them in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook them.

To cook:  preheat the oven to 425°F or 220°C.  Put the baking pan in to heat up.   When the oven reaches temperature, drizzle the pan with olive oil then put the fishcakes in the pan and drizzle a little more olive oil on their tops and bake for about 15 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and turn the patties over.  Cook for five or 10 more minutes or until they are crispy and browned all over.  

Serve with wedges of lemon.

Enjoy!

Addendum:  I am adding this post to the #Cooked in Translation blog hop, so just a little information about that. The concept is simple:  Once a month on the third Wednesday we interpret a classic international dish through the lens of our own or another culinary tradition.  See who else has taken the challenge and add your own fishcake link below.  You can find the rules here.

End Piracy, Not Liberty

This is not my usual post.  These are not usual times. 

As a writer, I have a vested interest in keeping copyrighted material protected.  But I am more horrified by the specter of censorship.  Accordingly, I am reposting information from Google and a link to their page so that you might join me in letting the US Congress know that you, too, are against censorship.

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

Please follow this link and sign the petition. 

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Chicken and sausage gumbo made easy, with authentic Cajun taste. Make a pot for your next party and serve it in cups! 

Dark roux and gumbo is the smell of my grandmother’s house in New Iberia after a long drive from Houston in the winter and the warmth of family greetings and big hugs.  My grandmother is gone now, but gumbo simmering on the stove brings me back to her big round kitchen table where she always sat, chopping and dicing and preparing vegetables or stuffing a roast for the next meal.

My maternal grandmother, Wanda Fleming Gautreaux, sitting in her usual chair in her yellow kitchen.
Being in that yellow kitchen with her made me happy!

And some of my fondest college memories are of visits from my College Station/Houston/Beaumont friends who would come to Austin for the weekend.  Sometimes we went out to enjoy the nightlife of Sixth Street but more often than not, we would stay in, have a number of drinks and make chicken and sausage gumbo.  Truly, I am never happier than when I am in the kitchen, surrounded by friends and family, perhaps sipping some red wine, and stirring a roux.

In most gumbo recipes, you are supposed to cut the chicken in pieces and brown it first.  Unfortunately, I usually find myself starting with the bird still frozen, (Who can remember to take anything out of the freezer in the morning!) so I have developed this method.   Yesterday, I didn’t have a frozen bird, but I stuck to my usual program anyway.

Ingredients

3 1/2 pound or 1 1/2 kilo chicken (If you can find a hen, use her instead. More flavor.) 

Additional chicken breasts (optional)

1 lb or about 500g smoked sausage, sliced in rounds, about ½ inch thick

2 medium onions

1 green bell pepper (capsicum)

4 celery sticks, de-stringed

1 1/2 cups or 190g plain flour

1 cup or 240ml oil (I prefer canola.)

Sea salt

Black pepper

Cayenne

Chicken bouillon or stock cubes

For serving: Light sprinkling of gumbo filé. 

Method

Put whole (frozen or not) chicken to boil in pot with about a gallon of water, about 2 teaspoons of salt and good couple of grinds of fresh black pepper. (If it is frozen and you can’t get the bag of giblets out, don’t worry.  Keep checking back and get it out when the chicken thaws enough.)

Chop onions, bell pepper and celery and put aside in one bowl for later.

My bell pepper looks a little frozen because it was.  I chopped it over the weekend when I thought I was going to make gumbo but, then, couldn't find celery.  As long you are not using it for salad, bell pepper keeps great in the freezer.  So do onions and celery, for that matter. 

In separate pot, preferably a black iron skillet or some other heavy gauge vessel, mix flour and oil.  This is called the roux.  Cook over medium to medium high heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until roux begins to turn brown. 

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 Depending on temperature and the thickness of your pot, you may have to stir constantly because roux has a tendency to burn.  A medium heat is safer; it just takes longer.  Continue cooking until the roux turns a very dark, chocolate brown.  Should the roux burn (Everyone does it at least once, so don’t feel too bad.) toss it out and start again, otherwise the entire gumbo will have that burnt taste.

27 minutes - it looks delicious but do NOT try to taste it.  It's hotter than the hinges of hell
and will burn your mouth off.  Also it doesn't actually taste good. 

The roux will be VERY hot so be careful when handling it and try to stir without splashing on yourself or nearby “helpers.” 

In fact, it's best if you make the helpers go sit on their beds. 

Add the chopped vegetables and stir. This cools your roux down without too much spitting.

By this time your chicken (or hen) should be falling off its bones.  (If not, turn the roux off, giving it a couple of more stirs, and let the chicken boil for a little longer.)  A good sized hen may take up to two hours to fall off her bones. 

Take the chicken out of the pot, leaving behind the stock, and allow it to cool until you can handle it.  Discard bones and skin, leaving meat in fairly large chunks.

Add stock from the chicken pot gradually to the roux.  Never add roux to stock, always stock to roux.  It may bubble up considerably, depending on how hot your roux is, so when I say gradually, I do mean ladle by ladle.  Stir between ladles.

When the roux has thinned considerably, then you can add the whole mixture back into the stockpot.

Add the sliced sausage.  And the additional chicken breasts if desired.

I cut these into fairly large chunks so they don't disintegrate into shredded chicken. 

Let simmer until the sausage and breasts, if using, are cooked and you are ready to eat.  Depending upon how fatty your sausage is, you might need to use a serving spoon to skim the oil off of the top of the gumbo before serving.

Add the deboned chicken meat and make sure it is warmed through.  Add chicken cubes, as necessary, instead of salt, for more flavor.  Add freshly ground black pepper and cayenne to taste.

Serve in bowls over a large spoonful of cooked white rice with a couple of drops of hot sauce and a sprinkle of gumbo filé (ground sassafras leaves), if you have it.   We also often serve with fresh baguette slices to dip. 

Enjoy!