Old Florida Style Fish Cakes

  You can use any kind of firm, white fleshed fish, such as snapper, grouper, grunt, wahoo, cobia, snook and triggerfish. The most important thing to remember is to pat the fish dry with a paper towel prior to “flaking” the fish.

Prep Time: 35 minutes                          Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

8 Jumbo sized shrimp; tail on, peeled, deveined & butterflied                    

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups flaked or cubed fish (pat fillets dry prior to cutting)                          

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 Tablespoons butter                                                                                     

2 Tablespoons flour

1/2 cup onions, finely diced                                                                          

3 Tablespoons bread crumbs

1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced                                                             

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup fresh Cilantro, chopped                                                                    

2 egg whites, beaten

1 Tablespoon Red Pepper flakes                                                                    

3 Tablespoons Mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning                                                                        

Oil for frying

Preparation Directions:

1) Heat butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add diced onion and Jalapeno, saute for 4-5 minutes or until tender.

2) Make sure fish has been patted dry, cut into small cubes or flake.

3) In a large bowl, add cilantro, fish, pepper flakes, garlic and cooled onion/Jalapeno from pan.

4) Dust shrimp thoroughly with flour.

5) Sprinkle remaining flour, bread crumbs, salt, black pepper and Old Bay seasoning while tossing mixture – make sure to coat fish evenly.

6) Fold in mayonnaise and beaten egg whites.

Take some of the mixture and form into a ball, approximately 3-4 inches in diameter. If it holds together, your in business. If it’s too dry and flaky, add some more bread crumbs. It should be moist, but not soggy.

7) Form mixture into 8 equal sized patties.

8 ) Hold shrimp flat and build fish cake around shrimp, with tail hanging out of cake.

9) Add enough oil to just cover bottom of skillet and heat over medium heat. Cook about 5-6 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Serve with rice, steamed vegetables and key lime slices. Can also be used for a surf and turf platter when serving steak or fillet Mignon. Enjoy!