Skip to main content

Tilapia Cakes

They smell good, too.

I'd never had tilapia cakes before, but I figured if it works for crab and salmon, it would work with tilapia too. And it does! I've made these twice now, and we love them. For flavor inspiration, I turned to the things I usually put in tuna salad: mustard, capers, lemon, yogurt, onions, and celery. Except that I use shallot instead of onion because it is positively delicious in things like this.

I bake the tilapia with a casual sprinkling of salt, pepper, and olive oil over the top. It's hard to mess up the cooking of the fish here. By the time the cakes are done, no one will know if your original tilapia was overdone. Or underdone, as long as you can flake it apart sufficiently. Easy.

Line the dish with foil for less mess later... unless you flake the cooked fish in the same dish and end up poking holes in the foil and letting the fish juices coat it anyway. Oops.


The Mixture.

I like to serve these over a bed of spinach, with honey mustard dressing (honey, mustard, olive oil, cider vinegar, salt, pepper, Magic Bullet) on top. But let your imagination go wild. You could probably make a mean sandwich with these if you just made a bigger patty.


The Recipe (serves 2):
2 tilapia filets
1 shallot, minced
1 rib of celery, minced
1 tb capers, minced
1/4 c panko
1 egg
1 tb plain yogurt
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
  • Sprinkle tilapia with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until it can be flaked apart. Flake into desired size.
  • Saute shallot and celery in olive oil over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until softened. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate for 30+ minutes.
  • Form patties on a prepared baking sheet. Spray the tops of the patties with a light coat of baking spray.
  • Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until tops are lightly browned.

The Verdict:
Overall grade: A
Overall reason: A great change of pace from usual tilapia preparations.
Time to prepare: 90 minutes
Husband quote: These are good! Did you blog these? You should blog these. Get a picture.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kitchen renovation!

BEFORE: AFTER: Still to come: a beautiful new induction range and some wood shelving on the left side, above the backsplash. And maybe the shelving unit on the wall facing the cabinets should be green, but we're going to live with a while before making that decision.
2 comments
Read more

Red lentil dal

Cucumber salad is key. This dal is perfect. Most of us took seconds, and I'm really excited to eat the last portion that's sitting in the fridge right now. The accompanying salad is really great for adding texture, crunch, and acidity to the meal. I wouldn't skip it. I got it from  Tea for Turmeric  and prepared it pretty much as written, but doubled and with none of the optional ingredients. This recipe doesn't mention any seasoning/dressing on the salad, but adding lemon and salt to it really brightened things up. The Recipe: (from Tea for Turmeric) 2 c red lentils splash of avocado oil 2 tsp cumin seeds 2 small onions, finely chopped 1 inch ginger, grated 4 small tomatoes, chopped 2 thai chilies, minced 2 tsp cumin powder 2 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp turmeric 2+ tsp kosher salt 2 tsp lemon juice 1/2 c cilantro, chopped For serving: basmati rice and plain yogurt Salad ingredients: 1/2 english cucumber, sliced 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered 1/4 onion, slic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vietnamese Curry Stir-Fry

  When I get the recipe just right, I'll go to the effort of adding fried shallots on top. I'm back to my on-and-off mission of trying to make a stir-fry as delicious as the shrimp I used to get at  Pho Grand  in St. Louis during college. It was called "cari tom" but it definitely wasn't a coconut milk type of curry, and they ALSO have a separate listing on their menu for "cari tom dac biet" which includes "coconut milk sauce" in their description. So I'm pretty sure it was just a stir-fry that had curry flavors in it? I got myself a big container of Vietnamese curry powder and I'm going to keep experimenting. This is the closest I've come so far. Changes for the future: - More oil and sugar, restaurant style - A blend of fish sauce and soy sauce, instead of just soy sauce - Fried shallots on top The Recipe (adapted from  Veggie Anh ): 3 tb fresh lemongrass, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 Thai chili, minced 1 pinch salt 2 tb avoc...
Post a Comment
Read more