Recipes to Rival: Thank George's Bank

Just before I get to today's post, I want to throw in a little reminder to vote in this month No Croutons Required event. The theme this month is a soup or salad that uses your favourite herb.

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Have you heard of the new group called Recipes to Rival?



I think of this group as a savoury response to Daring Bakers. A dish is chosen once a month and revealed on a pre-established date. The mission is to work together as a group or individually to create a recipe that will increase our repertoire of cooking skills. To lend support and guidance as needed to other members of the club. Last but not least, to enjoy the whole experience. Here's the growing list of participants.

Last month was their first month and they featured a Ratatouille. You can learn more about joining the group by visiting the forum here.

This month's recipe is called Thank George's Bank. Here is the explanation of the recipe name, the original source is the Recipes to Rival website by way of the Black Dog Cafe:

According to The Black Dog this recipe is to honor George’s Bank, a bank on the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Maine. For hundred’s of years, fishermen have gone there for cod, haddock, flounder, scallops, swordfish, tuna, etc… The fishing is now strictly controlled so the fish stocks can recover.

You can also find the full recipe at this link.

Essentially, the recipe involved steaming cod (something I've never done before):



The cod are steamed along with onions (I blended the onions afterwards):



Blend all of the ingredients together:



Form the fishcakes. A fair number of people in the group mentioned difficulties having the cakes stick together. Some ideas were freezing the cakes a bit before frying and adding more potatoes. I didn't have too much trouble with this myself.





When the fishcakes are nearly done, I poached a couple of eggs by putting vinegar in water and cracking the egg into the boiling vinegar water. The vinegar helps to prevent spreading of the egg.




The final step is topping the egg and fishcake with a hollandaise sauce:





Verdict:

This recipe definitely stretched me from the type of dishes I usually make. Even the fish alone was a stretch for me as I rarely cook with fish. This is something I would like to change. I'm glad to have tried cod, but I didn't love the cod flavour or smell.

I'm really looking forward to next month's recipe and continuing to stretch my skills/repetoire.