Fish Patties – Рыбные Котлеты

If you’ve got any Slavic blood running through your veins, you’re most likely familiar with kotleti, and seafood kotleti are a classic variation. They are a great option for a quick weeknight dinner and you can also make a large batch, since they reheat very well, and you won’t have to cook the next day. For all the people that are nervous about seafood, don’t worry, these fish patties don’t taste “fishy” at all.

Whenever I serve these to family and friends, I get a very enthusiastic response, and I’ve seen very surprised looks on people’s faces. These fish patties are truly delicious – they taste fresh, aromatic and juicy, with large chunks of delicious fish as the star of the show, not covered up with tons of binder. They just melt in your mouth.

Here’s another way for you to include fish in your diet and you just might make this more than once a week:).

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs fish (any kind that you like, cod, haddock, tilapia, salmon, etc.)
• ½ Tablespoon butter or oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 celery stalk, minced
• 2 slices of Italian bread, toasted
• ⅓ - ½ cup milk, just enough to cover the bread
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
• salt, pepper
• fresh herbs (parsley, dill, chives) minced
• ½ cup flour, for dredging the patties
• oil, for pan frying

Instructions

Cut the fish into tiny pieces. You can also put it through a meat grinder or pulse it in a food processor, but be careful not to turn it into complete mush. Make sure the fish still has some texture to it. You can use just about any fish that you like. For this recipe, I like to use white fish and cod is one of my favorites.
Pour the milk over the toasted bread, and allow it to soak into the bread and soften for a few minutes. Italian bread is very light and airy. If you're using plain white store bought sandwich bread, use only 1 slice of bread, since it's much more dense and will become somewhat gummy as it soaks in the milk.
Puree the soaked bread in the food processor or mash it with a fork.
Mince the celery and the onion. Heat the butter or oil in a skillet, add the onion and celery, season with salt and pepper and saute them in the skillet for 5-7 minutes, until softened.
Add the celery, onion, pureed bread and milk, egg, salt, pepper, mustard and herbs to the fish. Mix to combine.
Place the flour in a shallow bowl.
Form small patties from the fish mixture, dredge them in the flour and set aside. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet until really hot. Cook the patties until golden on both sides, about 4 minutes per side.

Source:

http://www.olgasflavorfactory.com/main-course/fish-patties/