Miniature Fishcakes — Ick! And yet… Appetizers for up to 100

Not all of us like fishcakes. Some of us recall the processed fish of our childhood and the smell of flaccid sticks of violated mystery swimmers served on plastic school cafeteria trays; the air sour with dirty bleach water; the lunch lady corpulent with the small children she ate for breakfast.

Then there's the evening aroma of an oven pre-heating and the internal battle between hunger and reluctance that comes with freezer burn on waxy boxes. Fish = childhood angst.

When it comes to lumps of fish it doesn't matter how you dress them up; there are going to be those who will turn and run at the sight of seafood all mashed up into a ball and reheated.

I am one such person.

Erik, being an Italian Viking Chef, loves fish. He grew up with what most of us who don’t like fish missed as kids — fish prepared by people who like fish. His recipe, a take on one he learned at the CIA, is excellent and, I have to say, if I am going to eat a fishcake, I’ll eat his.

Mix:
1 lb white fish poached and crumbled.
1 lb cooked and riced potatoes

Add:
½ cup chopped basil
2 globs of mayonnaise to moisten the mixture
2 tsp mustard
Breadcrumbs to bind the mixture
Salt, pepper and Tabasco for seasoning

Use a melon baller to make a one-ounce fishcake.

Fry 2 minutes per side and finish in the oven for 2 more minutes.

Garnish with something cute and approachable.

Proportions:
If wishes were fishes, I’d have these puppies a little smaller than one ounce. They’d be easier to cook all the way through (cold fishy centers only reinforce fishstick trauma).

This recipe makes 30 one-ounce fishcakes. You can stretch that number with amounts above. Also, unless you are serving a bunch of Italian Vikings, not everyone is going to eat a couple of these guys. I’d count on maybe 60% of your guests trying one. Their loss.