Fish Cake Muffins

This being the first Friday in Lent, some of my compadres worry over my immortal soul (such as it is), so I thought I'd move in a friendly direction, tonight. I was planning to fix a single recipe for the Bat, the Geezer, and a couple of our extended family-ish regulars, but events conspired to set me up with a full house, so I improvised a bit or two.

First, some of us are allergic to shellfish and crabs, and still crave crab cakes. In the good old days, before anaphylaxis became a recognized and feared word in our house, the discovery of those precious jewels of salt water chefs was a source of its own near-religious experience. Now, somebody has decided that taking such a risk is a really bad idea. I won't name names, but... well... pass the Benadryl, willya? I'm going in! almost.

Also, rather than spatter the kitchen with a lot of grease from frying them up, I tried a suggestion I stumbled across in a magazine, and baked them in a well-greased muffin pan. It meant less fat, better for the heart, or so they say. They wound up pretty tasty, & folks went back for seconds (& one went back for thirds)

No crab, though. Dagnabbit.

Not that we missed it that much.

Fish Cake Muffins

Ingredients:

2 lbs. mild white fish, shredded or finely flaked

4 c. fresh whole wheat bread crumbs

1 medium-large red bell pepper, seeds removed and minced

8 scallions, finely sliced

4 large eggs, beaten

2 medium or large egg whites, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp. Tabasco or other good hot sauce

1 1/2 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning*

1 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450ºF.

Heavily grease non-stick muffin pans.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients (I generally find mixing by clean, bare hand is best -- it's not too different from making meat loaf, in that regard). Scoop out in equal portions to fill 24 muffin cups. Place in middle rack of oven, bake 20 - 25 minutes, or until golden-browned.

Serve hot.

It does nicely with a zesty tartar sauce or seafood cocktail sauce, or sprinkled with a little fresh lemon juice and garnished with lemon wedges.

* 1 1/4 tsp of celery salt & 1/4 tsp paprika may be used as reasonable facsimile of Old Bay Seasoning, if you're desperate. ;-)