The Seafood Diet
Updated: Nov 23, 2022
2022-11-22
"If I see food, I eat it?" No, not that seafood diet. The other seafood diet.
I love tuna. You could not have grown up in my mother's house and not liked tuna. I was known to open a can for a snack - with or without a utensil, because licking my fingers got all the tasty-tasty oil it was packed in. In the mid '60s, my stepfather was stationed on a minesweeper. He used to fish off the fantail, and once or twice brough home these enormous tunas, which he proceeded to cook. I loved those, too. They don't get much fresher than "I caught these this morning."
So, it is Thanksgiving week. I'll be eating a rice-stuffed Rock Cornish Game Hen with fixings. Yesterday I baked pork chops and chicken thighs for leftovers, because that game hen will not survive T-Day. For today... well, I suppose I could dip into the leftover stash (there's still some chili left, too) but I had two crabcakes (Two Rivers) and eleven cans of tuna with no salt added.
I looked up recipes for tuna cakes and printed (to a PDF file) the first three. Which one did I follow? None of them, though I used them all for guidance and suggestions. Here is my master ingredient list in order of weight (that's why the bacon bits are first):
I started with the tuna. The recipes ass-u-me you'll use tuna packed in water. Then they have you add some oil. How silly! I spent some time breaking up the tuna, which was very tightly packed. Next was the mayonnaise and the minced garlic and the onion. The egg was mushed into the rest before the breadcrumbs and bacon bits. I saved back some crumbs mixed with the Parmesan cheese for coating.
Six meatballs, flattened into the coating, and place on two greased cookie sheets (the toaster oven tray lined with tinfoil and sprayed with cooking spray.) Toasted for 20 minutes, then swap trays.
I left out spices. Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, habanero powder, pepper, No salt.
To say "I am quite pleased with the results" would be damning with faint praise. They are and were fabulous, and I will be making them again. I ate half of them, and one of the crab cakes, so there are leftovers. I'm curious what a fish cake omelet would taste like. :)
I just need to tuck this picture here:
GARY'S DOTTER'S T-DAY CAKEPOPS