This is a quick recipe where the components can either be leftovers or made ahead. It is essentially a variation on the fishcakes that are popular here in New England but rather than using bread filling and codfish I am using lentils, pre-cooked corn meal, and tilapia with seasoning that has a distinctly Caribbean and Mexican twist.

Ingredients

• 2/3 Cup of Masarepa (cooked corn meal which can often be found amongst the Goya products)
• 2.3 Cup of water
• 1 1/3 Cups of cooked lentils
• (2) Tilapia fillets
• Pinch of salt
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• (1) Lemon
• (1) Lime
• (2) Tablespoons of dried cilantro
• (5) Cloves of garlic
• (1) Small onion
• 1/2 Cup of frozen corn
• (2) Tablespoons of olive oil
• (1) Bay Leaf
• (1) Dried chili pepper

Preparation

This recipe works best if the lentils are prepared ahead of time with a basic recipe (16 oz of beans to 8 cups of water, 1 small onion halved, 6 cloves of garlic crushed, 1 bay leaf, bring to a boil them turn down to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes) and has had time to sit refrigerated overnight.

The fish marinade should be assembled some six hours before cooking and it involves:

• Rinse and pat dry the tilapia fillets taking care not to break the meat and place in a Ziploc bag or an airtight container.
• Coat the fish with the cilantro, bay leaf, pepper, chili pepper, and salt.
• Half and juice both the lime and the lemon then quarter the remains and add to the juice.
• Slice onion, crush the garlic, and add to citrus juice along with the olive oil.
• Stir then pour over the fish, seal and refrigerate for at least six hours.

To make the cakes:

• Bake the fish in a foil packet at 450° Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. When it is cooked remove it from the oven, let it cool then shred it, keeping any onion and garlic that you like and set it aside.
• Add the masarepa and water stirring briskly until they are fully incorporated and no dry lumps remain.
• Add the lentils and fork the mixture until the lentils and masarepa are well mixed.
• Add the shredded fish, mix well then stir in the corn and set aside.
• Heat a frying pan of approximately 1 1/2 inches of vegetable oil–I didn’t calculate temperature here but you want it hot enough to shimmer but not smoke, also I use cast iron for this type of cooking as it, in my opinion, distributes the heat better than steel or aluminum.
• Form the mixture into palm sized patties and add to the oil cooking only three at a time.
• Fry until golden brown then remove and set aside on paper towels to soak up any excess oil.

We managed to get about nine fishcakes from this recipe which was enough for dinner and a lunch the next day. If you are vegetarian you could substitute the fish with plantains, cooking them until they are soft but not mushy. We served the cakes with a side of pan roasted asparagus cooked in a little butter and lemon juice. Enjoy!

The post-holiday poverty season has Management and I looking to stretch our food budget little further than usual–read: we eat leftovers more often–so we are always in search of new and flavorful recipes–read: easy but tasty–we can try out. Last night we banged one together by modified a recipe for Chicken Soup and Shepard’s Pie from the Joy of Cooking and the Better Homes and Garden cookbook.  It is built around layering flavors, starting with onions, garlic, celery, and carrots, an finishing off with an assortment of spices and herbs. Since it is a one pot meal it is a meal that you can prepare early and let cook most of the day without fuss or worry. We have a 2 qt Round French Oven from Le Creuset that we use for this but any enameled stoneware (range top and oven safe only) or cast iron oven would work well with this since the need is for all around heat.

Chicken Shepard’s Soup

• (1) Small onion, diced
• (2) Cloves of garlic, cracked and chopped
• (2) Large carrots, sliced
• (2) Large stalks of celery, sliced (I actually prefer to use the inner most parts of the celery bunch, leaves and all, for this since it seems to have the most flavor for cooking.)
• (1) Large potato, cubed
• (1/2) cup of frozen corn
• (1/2) cup of frozen peas
• (1) Chicken breast cut into chunks
• (16 oz) of low-sodium chicken stock
• (1) Bay leaf
• (1) Tablespoon of hot paprika
• (1) Teaspoon of ground coriander seed
• (4) Pinches of dried rosemary
• (4) Pinches of dried thyme
• Fresh cracked black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• (3) Tablespoons of olive oil

Add the olive oil and bay leaf to the French oven and bring them up to medium-low heat on the range–bubbles should form about the bay leaf. When it is up to heat add the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots and let them sweat for approximately 10 minutes or until the onions start to become translucent. Follow this by adding the potato and half of each of the spices and herbs and stir and let cook for another 10 minutes and preheat the oven to 250° F.

When the oven is ready take the pot off the stove and stir in the remaining vegetables and chicken broth. Layout the pieces of chicken on top of the vegetables and dust them with the remaining herbs and spices. Cover and bake for approximately 2-2 1/2 hours and let cool for a few minutes before serving. We had this with cornbread made in a cast iron skillet, which when mixed with a couple of small pieces of butter goes a long way in keeping the bread moist and firm–I hate dry crumbly cornbread.

As we continue our kitchen experiments I’ll post some of the successes as well as some of the disasters as a warning of what to avoid!