Simple, Lovable Catfish Cakes

Published on January 10, 2014 | in Blog Post By Tom Henkenius |

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Can’t wait for you to see this weekend’s show, starring my whiskered friend, catfish!! Yes, the star of the show is, once again, our very own U.S. farm raised catfish, in the role of Catfish Cakes with Seafood Sauce, and of course, a fabulous green salad. And when I say green, it’s green from top to bottom in color, texture, vegetables, fruit, herbs and dressing!! Check out the lime juice!!

I’ve seen so many “cakes” done, from salmon to catfish to crab, and believe me, the simpler the better. Can you believe that some chefs put nearly 25 ingredients in fishcakes?? What is that all about?? Catfish is so clean, farm raised catfish that is, that it takes on the simple flavors of the ingredients you’re adding, and trust me, you don’t need that many. I want the catfish to be flaky, the light crust to be just browned and slightly crisp, and when you spoon over the sauce, ooh la la!! The coming together of flavors is just wonderful. Oh, and for heaven’s sake, don’t flatten these goodies out, some cakes look like they’ve been run through a wringer, or squashed with a brick—leave your cakes plump, nicely rounded, the fish is already cooked, you just want to heat through and brown on both sides nicely.

I love my Seafood Sauce, and when I say seafood sauce, I mean I use it for everything from crab and shrimp salad to fishcakes. My great aunt Katherine used to make this sauce for me with an incredible lump crab meat salad, so simple, so cold from the fridge after a long drive to visit with her, and I just remember how simple, how tangy, and how it just perfectly complimented the seafood. Mayo, a little ketchup, some lemon juice, and of course, you got to have Tabasco, not a lot, just enough to perk up the taste buds, and make everyone go, “I just love this!!” Not necessarily the heat, just enough do re mi to make a difference, a soupcon of something you can’t quite put your finger on. Mystery in cooking, don’t you just love it??

My family loves these catfish cakes, I’m so delighted that my precious son-in-law likes them, it really surprised me that he did the first time he tried them. He’s kinda the meat and potatoes, manly-man-type. So you can imagine how tickled I was that he actually enjoyed them, without having to suck up and tell me a big fib—he does request them from time to time, and that makes me really happy and proud to be his mama in law.

If you really want to do a little experimentation of your own, make these Catfish Cakes then place them on a great toasted whole wheat hoagie roll (you may want to pull out a little of the roll’s insides to make room for the goodies), lather up the insides with Seafood Sauce, and pile on some great lettuce, and maybe a squeeze of lemon and a tad more Tabasco, and you’ve got yourself a great poboy!

Thanks, Mr. Whiskers, you always save the day—and I just love how you’re sustainable, clean, fresh, and just willing to work with everyone. Catfish—the ultimate team player!!