It's been a while since I've actually gone to the grocery store. Back in November, we started using Instacart to reduce our exposure to the pandemic. Non-spon-con, Instacart has been a lovely service and I highly recommend it, especially during a time like this. I'm ashamed to say it took so long before we actually started using it, but that's partly because we are on my brother's premium account and are getting free delivery.
As wonderful as Instacart is, I wouldn't call it perfect. I hate push notifications, which is my own damn fault. My distaste of push notifications means I have to monitor the spending as it happens in real time and offer suggestions as certain items can't be found, rather than just getting the push notification and responding only when I get them. I'm terrible, I know.
Well, one day a wonderful person was shopping for me and mentioned that the store did not have any tilapia filets. I had asked for 4. The shopper asked what I would like as a replacement. In my haste, I went into the app and selected a 2-pound bag of frozen tilapia, knowing that any leftover filets can just be saved. What I didn't pay attention to was the quantity, which was still listed at 4. My shopper only did what was told of them, but I ended up 4 2-pound bags of frozen tilapia and my bill jumping an addition $45 or so more than I had anticipated. By the time I noticed, my shopper was already en route and there was nothing I could do.
It's a good thing we like fish, but out of necessity you've gotta switch it up. I was not prepared to make Ingrid Hoffmann's Baked Costa Rican Style Tilapia over and over again.
Fish cakes are, um, a choice. I love fish cakes, don't get me wrong. But I don't know very many people who actively make them. It's way easier to just fry or roast a filet of fish and call it a day. To be blunt, fish cakes are work. Not hard work, but work. Oftentimes, the reward is worth the work, which is the case here with my Tex-Mex Tilapia Cakes.
These fish cakes are a great way to bring new flavors that you might not ordinarily have with your fish, plus there's some fun techniques along the way. For example, in lieu of egg and breadcrumbs, these cakes are held together by mayonnaise and tons of crushed tortilla chips. Crushing tortilla chips can be fun if you have a ziploc bag, a rolling pin, and pent up aggression. I tend to reach for food processor instead, but I'm not controlling you in your kitchen! In terms of flavor, the corniness of the tortilla chips depends on the intensity of the chip you use. I used the regular Wegman's brand ones and the corn flavor took center stage. There's also some extra brightness from the lime, a whisper of smoke from the cumin, and a zippy lime-mayo condiment counterbalances that "fried" feeling (although you could also bake these if you wanted to!)
The yield of this recipe is decidedly utilitarian (read: I took the bag of tilapia out of the freezer the night before), so feel free to scale back as necessary. Conversely, you could make the entire yield, fry what you need, and freeze what you don't for another day or for lunch meal preps. You can also make the cakes any size you want -- I wanted something substantial so I did the work of weighing my tilapia cakes at 3 ounces each, yielding a whopping 15 cakes. Naturally, we did not eat them all and some of them became the next day's lunch.
In the end, I have to thank the shopper for overbuying frozen tilapia for me, because without that snafu I would have never created this recipe. Thanks random Instacart shopper whose name I don't remember. You did me a solid in the end.
Fishing a wish,
~c.j.
TEX-MEX TILAPIA CAKES
PREP TIME: 15 minutes
ACTIVE COOK TIME: 20 minutes
INACTIVE COOK TIME: 15-20 minutes
TOTAL COOK TIME: 35-40 minutes
YIELD: 15 medium-sized 3-ounce fish cakes
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE FISH CAKES
2 lbs tilapia filets
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1 c. mayonnaise
2 c. finely crushed tortilla chips (about 200 g -- I weigh them first then pulverize them in the food processor because I'm just that exacting)
1 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 c. finely chopped cilantro leaves
2 limes (1 zested and juiced, 1 cut into wedges for serving)
neutral oil, for frying
FOR THE LIME MAYO
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/2 c. mayonnaise
kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400°F with a rack in the center. Place tilapia filets on a large prepared baking sheet. Season both sides of filets with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil over top and bake on the center rack until fully cooked and flaky, 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
In a large bowl, add mayonnaise, crushed tortilla chips, cumin, chipotle powder, cilantro leaves, and 1 lime (juice and zest). Use a fork to flake the fish into pieces and add to the large bowl. Stir to combine. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed (tortilla chips tend to be salty, so you may not need the extra salt).
Have a prepared baking sheet ready! Using your hands, form about 1/3 c. of the mixture into a round circle about 1-inch in thickness (Again, being that I'm exacting I weigh them out at 3 oz.) Place formed fish cake onto prepared sheet and continue making until all mixture is used.
Heat a thin layer of neutral oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Place several fish cakes in the pan, ensuring they are flat and not overcrowded (I work in batches of 5 in my 10-inch cast iron). Cook about 3 minutes until a dark crust forms, then flip and cook an additional 3 minutes. Carefully remove from the pan, and add another batch. Continue until all fish cakes needed are fried. Alternatively, you could bake them, but I have not tested this so I am unsure what temperature/time to use. If I had to guess, I would say bake at 400°F with a rack on the top-third of the oven for 10-15 minutes, flipping the fish cakes and rotating once halfway though. Serve with reserved lime wedges and lime mayo, recipe follows.
TO MAKE THE LIME MAYO: In a small bowl, combine lime zest, lime juice, and mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
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