Lapu-Lapu Cakes a la Marketman

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We baked a whole 1.5 kilo lapu-lapu (grouper/rock-cod) over the holidays and had half of the fish leftover. We forgot to take a photo of the baked fish, but it was similar to these ones and this one that we cooked a few Christmases ago. So the next day, the obvious question was what to do with the leftovers. An easy option was to flake the fish, enrobe it in mashed potatoes and deep fry it until golden brown, a version of croquettas…

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This time around, I wanted something simpler and a bit healthier so we experimented a bit and came up with these baked fish cakes. First flake all of your leftover baked fish meat, taking care to remove all bones. We had roughly 3 cups worth. Next, I fished out all the other edible ingredients from the dish, potatoes, red peppers, onions, capers, olives, etc. and mashed this up roughly and added this to the flaked fish. Next I added about a tablespoon of mayonnaise for a bit of moisture and richness, some salt and pepper, and chopped parsley and formed these into rough little patties. These went onto a flat pan and into the fridge for 30 minutes to bind and set. Turn the oven up to 375 or 400F, take the patties out of the fridge, coat lightly with homemade bread crumbs, place them back on a lightly greased pan (using olive oil) and drizzle all of the patties with a bit of olive oil before sticking it in the oven. After about 10 minutes, turn on the broiler and brown the fish cakes, taking care not to burn them. Served with some lemon wedges, these were extremely satisfying lunch time fare. The cakes were a bit crumbly, but light, relatively healthy and very tasty. A large green salad on the side completed this “we are trying to be good” meal. :)

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12 Responses

  1. …was craving for steamed fish like Chinese style the other day. Rock cod waaaaaay too expensive, so I settled for Ocean perch that looked like snapper….too big and made fish cakes too but i added fresh breadcrumbs and eggs to bind it….excellent with orange beurre blanc…

  2. Ooooh, I like the idea of this. Pero kapag lapu-lapu, tiyak na walang leftover, hehehe. I’ll do this recipe with sea trout. Ayos!

  3. i’m craving for fish cakes right now!^ ^

    my hub and I actually did a lot of versions with almost any fish available here except mackerel, i like the one with tofu, egg, squid and bell peppers. back in the phils, my mom used to make them with leftover lapu-lapu or any big fish, too. sometimes ggs and some veggies then fry them or just inside fried lumpias. yum!

  4. Way to go the healthy eating road after all the holiday binging! I suppose the recipe will do for any other fleshy fish! Thanks,MM.

  5. Thanks for this recipe, MM. The capers are a nice touch! I don’t prepare fried food of any kind, so I really appreciate this.

  6. I wonder what will be the suggested retail price if you sell it for business purposes. Like Kwek-kwek, Lapu-lapu cakes could probably be one of the best staple merienda food.

  7. Francis, given that lapu-lapu is usually one of the pricier fishes in the market, I think making this to sell would have to translate into a fairly high price per piece.

  8. MM,

    Reminds of the time when I use to make salmon cakes everytime we have left overs. The kids love it and were surprised that it was made from left overs.

    Jr.

  9. I often make variations of this, and this looks and sounds absolutely yummy! Again, a must-try for me … And sooo funny, “we are trying to be good meal”! :D

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