Daring Cooks February Challenge - Patties & fish burgers my style

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness!We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

Technically patties are flatten discs of ingredients held together by (added) binders (usually eggs, flour or breadcrumbs) usually coated in breadcrumbs (or flour) then fried (and sometime baked). Burgers, rissoles, croquettes, fritters, and rösti are types of patties as well.

This challenge offered me the opportunity to share something I really love to eat - fish burger. When I first read the topic, I thoght about usual burgers (or 'Buletten') like we use to call them here in my region (funnily, there are several words for 'burger' in different regions of Germany). But then something popped up into my mind and I remembered something - the instant though of "Oh, you could make FISH burgers again ..."

So if you are not interested in love stories, skip this part. Now I am going to tell you the love story of me and the fish burger (on Valentine's day - funny, isn't it?). It all started with my au pair time in Norway which is known for its fish. About a month after I arived there was a 'traditional food' fair at the market sqare in Trondheim. At one booth a cook was making (high quality) fish burgers. There was a long queue, but I got to taste a bit because the mother from my family knew him. I fell in love immediately. So every time I travel to Norway for vacation or feel the longing to travel there, I try to recreate this memory. I discovered you can buy ready-made burger patties at the supermarket which are called 'fiskekaker' (fish cakes) or 'fiskekarbonader'. Some contain salmon, some white fish (mainly codfish) or extra ingredients like bacon or leek. Here you can find an overview. Of course I can't get them here, so I had to make them myself. In one of my cooking books I bought in Norway (I speak Norwegian, so no problem) I found a recipe I could adapt and use for fish burgers. The book is by Andreas Viestad and also availiable in English as "Kitchen of light". If you are interested in Scandinavian cooking, you can have a peek here and for a traditional 'fiskekaker' recipe here.

This is my adaption - a version with salmon which I absolutely love and a new one with codfish, dried tomatoes and leek. And because I'm into bread baking right know, I'll add a recipe for lemon-flavoured bread rolls which suit the fish really well.

Fish Burgers my style:

Lemon-flavoured bread rolls
 makes about 10 large rolls

• 150 g whole grain wheat flour
• 250 g all purpose flour
• 200 g sourdough*
• 10 g salt
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
•  zest of one lemon
• about 300 ml lukewarm water

* if you don't have sourdoug, use the double amount of yeast and a little bit more water

Mix the ingredients, adding the water at last. Knead about 5 minutes (and add water if needed) until you have a soft and elastic dough. Flour the doug, place into a large bowl and let  rest and rise at a warm place for an hour. Divide the dough into small pieces of equal amounts (10-12). Knead and shape your rolls. Flour a kitchen towel and place the rolls onto it, making folds into the towel to help them rise evenly (see pircture). Cover with another towel and let rest an hour again. Preheat the oven to 220°C.  Transfer the rolls to a flat baking tray, spray the walls of the oven with water and bake the rolls for 10 to 12 minutes.

Salmon burger patties
makes 6 medium-sized patties

• 400 g salmon filet
• 40 g freshly grated parmesan
• 2 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped
• one egg
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons mustard (I use dijon with honey)
• salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste. You should add breadcrumbs until you can shape your patties without them falling apart. Fry them with a small amount of oil into a pan on medium heat - depending on size, 3-5 minutes are enough. Because of the parmesan they tend to burn quickly, so watch them carefully.

Codfish patties with dried tomatoes and leek
makes 6 medium-sized patties

• 450 g codfish filet
• 50 g freshly grated parmesan
• 2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 50 g leek
• 25 g sun-dried tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons flour
• one egg
• salt and pepper

Puree the leek togehter with the dried tomatoes and the lemon juice until you have a thick paste. Add to the egg, parmesan and fish, season with salt and pepper, then add the breadcrumbs and the flour. If your mixture is still to wet and falls apart, add breadcrumbs until right. Fry like the salmon patties above.

Notes:

I recommend using fresh fish, but you can also use frozen one.  The frozen ones will be a little bit more dry and crumbly. Be carefull to remove all excessive water after unfreezing them (use  paper towels). You can cut all the fish into tiny bits (like tartar) or cut one half and mince the other half into your kitchen machine. I did the first method with the salmon (if you have fresh filet, you can just 'squeeze' it into pieces) and the second for the codfish (because it's not that fatty like the salmon). When mincing fish, keep it cold (or add a little bit crushed ice) or it will curdle.

For shaping the patties, I used a dessert ring - just stuffed a small handful (4 tablespoons) in and patted it flat.

I usually add sliced tomatoes, sour cucumbers and (iceberg) lettuce to my burgers. The sauce is a mixture of ketchup (or BBQ sauce), mustard (dijon with honey) and mayonnaise. But do as you like!

fishburger with codfish patty & lemon-flavoured bread roll