Cod Cakes With Bechamel | Cod Cake Burger With Remoulade

Cod Cakes

I was planning on making dinner by cooking cod fillets from The Local Catch in a skillet but they were thin and broke apart too much when I flipped them. So I stopped cooking and quickly searched for a recipe online and found a nice potato based cod cake recipe from Saveur.

The cod cake recipe can be found here. I made adjustments to the ingredients that suited my portion of fish. I didn't serve the cod cakes with a chow chow as recommended because I didn't have those ingredients. Rather, I made a quick Béchamel sauce.

Béchamel, lactose-free
For the Béchamel, I made this quick version because I didn't have a lot of time:

For the roux, I combined 1 tablespoon butter (I used organic lactose-free Earth Balance Buttery Spread, I read that olive oil can also be substituted) with 1 tablespoon flour until well blended in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat.

Then I added 1 1/2 cups milk (I used Organic Valley lactose-free), 1 bay leaf, a little onion powder,  sea salt, and fresh ground pepper to taste. I omitted the traditional clove-stuck onion and nutmeg for this sauce but it could be made that way.

I cooked the sauce on medium-low, whisking until the flour flavor was gone and it coated the bay leaf, like below. Then I discarded the bay leaf and sprinkled in some Old Bay seasoning to taste. I thought of Old Bay seasoning because it's what my father uses often when he makes seafood meals. 

I topped the cod cakes with the savory Béchamel and we ate them with leftover roasted vegetables. Cheese can be added to the sauce, but I liked it just like this and wanted to keep it lactose-free.

Cod Cake Burgers

I made burgers with the leftover cod cakes. The Remoulade was a nice condiment by itself but I would have also liked a slice of tomato. However, it's winter and I stay away from grocery store tomatoes -- they are no substitute for a fresh summer garden tomato!

Quick And Easy Remoulade

To 1 cup of mayonnaise (I used the Just Mayo brand I talked about in the previous post), I added 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon tabasco/hot sauce, and minced 4 very small sweet gherkins. 

I served the cod cakes on local Portuguese sweet bread rolls that I toasted.

And if that isn't enough carbs, why not have a nice local craft beer with the cod cake burger! This light tasting Rhode Scholar is my favorite.

"Rhode Scholar"
from the Bucket Brewery, Pawtucket, RI

Don't want all the carbs (or the lactose from the milk in Portuguese sweet bread)? A cod cake with Remoulade tastes great with these pea greens. 

Four Fresh Ideas For Watermelon Radish and Purple Kohlrabi

Vegetables at the farmers' markets this time of year can start looking pretty ugly. But don't judge a vegetable by its skin! They still taste great. Here are a few fresh ideas.

Salad

Here is a pretty salad with shaved watermelon radish and purple kohlrabi over organic romaine lettuce. The skin of both vegetables can be eaten. Wash and trim off the bad spots. If the skin on the kohlrabi is tough, just peel it all off. We'll eat this salad as is or add other toppings and finish it off with our favorite dressing. 

The other night we had a spinach salad with shaved kohlrabi and watermelon radish topped with crumbled leftover salmon and local honey balsamic vinaigrette*.

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Carrots
These carrots aren't the most attractive looking but they taste just fine. Clean them, keep skins on for more nutrition and trim off whatever looks bad. Taste. If sweet, the carrots are fine to cook or eat raw in a salad or dip (below), etc. If bitter, they're good to make a vegetable stock.

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Snack
Look how beautiful this snack looks. These vegetables make a lovely snack with hummus.

Side Dish
Here is a side dish made by combining the sweet tasting carrots with watermelon radish and purple kohlrabi. I used the wide blade on my shredder to slice them. A mandolin would slice them up very nicely as well. The salad was dressed with rice vinegar, freshly ground pepper, and celery seeds.

Salsa or Relish
Lastly, below is a salsa or relish made with a handful each of watermelon radish and purple kohlrabi, two green apples, a shallot, and a lime. I finely minced the vegetables and shallot together in a small food processor, finely chopped green apples, added cider vinegar, honey and a little sugar, celery seeds, freshly ground pepper, a little salt, and juice from one lime. I used amounts I thought was appropriate and adjusted to taste. I suppose cilantro would taste good here, but I didn't have any.

The salsa/relish made a nice after school snack for the boys with organic non-GMO corn chips.

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*The local Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing is made by D.E. Vine Foods in Warwick, RI. This is just something I love and want to share. No compensation was received.

Watermelon radish is milder in flavor than the cherry bomb variety. For a good description of its flavor, click here.

Watermelon radish, purple kohlrabi, and carrots were purchased from Freedom Food Farm at the Hope Artiste Village winter farmers' market.

French Meat Pie And The Frescos Of Saint Ann's Church

Without traditions, 

life would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!

~ Tevye, Fiddler On The Roof 

As my children get older traditions are more important to them, especially around the holidays. 

One of our favorite food traditions is this French meat pie or Tourtiere (tour - tea - air). We eat it at Christmas time but it can be enjoyed any time of the year. I wrote my recipe and a little about the history of French meat pie when I started my blog, here. My recipe hasn't changed much throughout the years but, this year, I used fresh herbs and spices in place of dried or ground. 

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Before I get to the recipe I want to share a special place with you. One day this past summer I took my daughter to visit the beautiful church that I attended as a child. My family often had French meat pie on Christmas Eve after attending midnight mass here.

Postcard photo courtesy St. Ann's Arts And Cultural Center - all rights reserved.

History: This beautiful church, St. Ann's, or the "little Sistene Chapel" as we used to call it not realizing that it's actually larger than the Sistene Chapel, no longer holds regular masses. As demographics changed, the parish declined and the church eventually closed. It's now an arts and cultural center and is being maintained by a small group of volunteers who are trying save the church and its beautiful frescos from destruction. The buon frescos were made by Italian artist, Guido Nincheri, and all the faces in the paintings are of actual parishioners. So it's a museum-sized record, if you will, of the parish's ancestry. This summer, my daughter was interested in the church from something she learned in school so we visited this hidden gem and took some photos with my iPhone:

The beautiful ceiling in the foyer:

Below is a photo of the church looking back to the choir loft, which brought back lots of memories since I was a choir member while attending St. Ann's Elementary School.

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French Meat Pie Recipe (makes two pies):

3 pounds ground pork
1 small yellow onion or 1/2 a medium onion, chopped or minced

Olive oil, enough to sauté meat and onions in
About 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, add more to taste
About 1/2 teaspoon each of minced fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary, add more to taste (or substitute 3/4 teas of poultry seasoning for all) 
6 medium organic gold (yukon gold) potatoes, halved with skins left on (2 potatoes for every pound of pork. If you want a meatier pie, use 1 potato per pound of meat but add more meat to fill 2 pies)

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup milk
Pastry for two two-crust pies

Pepper to taste

For my recipe with dry herbs:  http://www.vittlesandcommittals.blogspot.com/2010/12/tourtiere-my-memere-made-this.html

Boil potatoes until fork tender. Meanwhile, saute chopped onion over medium heat in a little olive oil until soft. Add pork and cook until brown. Remove from stove, drain fat. In a large bowl, mix meat with cinnamon, nutmeg, sage, thyme, and rosemary. When potatoes are fork tender, remove from water and place in a separate bowl. Break up with a spoon or fork while adding butter, milk, and pepper to taste (keep them lumpy). Add potatoes to meat and mix together. Prepare pie plates with a sheet of pastry. Add equal amounts of filling to each pie. Top with another sheet of pastry. Slit holes in top, crimp edges and cover loosely with foil to protect from burning. Cook in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until pastry is done.

Method 

This, I think, is the quickest way to prepare the meat pie:

Start with boiling the potatoes. 

While potatoes boil, cook the meat filling. 

Meanwhile (in between checking and stirring the meat mixture):

Mince fresh herbs, about three to four sage leaves, thyme leaves from a sprig or two, and rosemary needles from a piece of branch. Each herb should equal about one-half teaspoon. 

Then grate fresh spices. Start with about one-quarter teaspoon of nutmeg and cinnamon each. After tasting, I added about another quarter teaspoon of cinnamon. In this meat pie, you should be able to taste a little cinnamon.

When the meat filling is done, add herbs and spices. 

The perfect time to start the crust, if it wasn't made in advance, is while potatoes and filling cool.

Flaky Pastry For One Two-Crust Pie

This recipe is for one meat pie. I wasn't sure how well it would double so I made two separate batches. It's similar to James Beard's recipe in his American Cookery cookbook so I don't think I'm giving away any great family secret!

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup shortening, I used Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening, non-hydrogenated

4 to 5 teaspoons ice water

Sift flour and salt together into a medium bowl, cut in shortening with a fork or two knives until it resembles course cornmeal. Pour onto a cutting board and sprinkle with water, one tablespoon at time, tossing lightly with a fork, knives, or pasty cutter. Shape into two equal size balls. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready. If it's refrigerated, let it return to room temperature before rolling. Roll out onto floured surface.

Well, I'm not a baker and don't have much patience for it so let's just call it a rustic pie . . .

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For more photos and more about the closing of this beautiful church that French-Canadian immigrants built, visit the American-French Genealogy website here.

Holiday Leftover Ideas

Here are some ideas for Thanksgiving leftovers. We skipped the traditional turkey sandwiches this year, which my kids really don't like anyway, and ate really well for days!

Turkey Hash
The morning after Thanksgiving, I made this easy turkey hash for a hardy breakfast before we went skiing. The hash, made from diced potatoes, red onion, grated carrots, and leftover dark meat, made a tasty side dish to scrambled eggs.

Rustic Oven-Baked Apple Pancake
Leftover apples that didn't fit into the tart on Thanksgiving were the main ingredient in this simple rustic oven-baked apple pancake for breakfast another morning. Use your favorite recipe. I found this recipe in a cookbook I have in New Hampshire.

Turkey Shepherd's Pie
For dinner one night, we had this delicious turkey shepherd's pie with some of the leftover turkey, green beans with leeks, and mashed potatoes. I added hamburg and corn to make my kids happy! There wasn't enough mashed potatoes leftover to complete the pie, so I just made another batch and blended them together. To keep the turkey from drying out, I added a little chicken broth to the bottom of the casserole dish.

 

Four-Grain Pancakes
For another breakfast, we had these four-grain pancakes (whole-wheat flour, rye flour, oat flour, and cornmeal) made with extra pumpkin puree.

Sausage, Broccoli, And Stuffing
The leftover stuffing made a nice addition to this simple sausage and broccoli dinner one night. The sausage also came from the farm where I bought our fresh turkey.

Turkey Soup
I immediately made a lovely stock on Thanksgiving eve from the bones and meat of the turkey. From that stock, I made this comforting turkey soup with bok choy, one of the fresh greens I purchased at the local farm when I picked up my turkey. I kept it simple by cooking the chopped vegetables right in the stock. The turkey was added last, once the vegetables were tender. The pasta was cooked separately and added to each individual bowl just before serving.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Turkey Hash
Leftover turkey hash was made with the leftover turkey. We ate it with leftover brussels sprouts from another meal. It made a very nice light lunch one day.

Cranberry Salsa

A great snack that my family really loves this time of year is this festive cranberry corn salsa. I make it every year and sometimes from the leftover cranberry sauce. When I started my blog last December, I posted the basic recipe here. I'll be posting my new fresh version of the recipe this weekend.