Crayons and Kumara

I have to first call your attention to the right hand-side of your screen. Mr. N has unveiled his “Eat, Play, Love” logo. After working up several concepts, this is his final masterpiece. He even had Dad, Miss A and me color a piece of the final logo so that we could all share in the design. I think it made our little budding designer’s day when I showed him how we could give it a permanent home on our blog. I think it gives the page a finishing touch. 😉

One of the many things that we’re learning from this whole experience is that there are thousands (maybe millions) of recipes in cookbooks and magazines, on the internet and in the blogosphere. In an effort to expand our weeknight repertoire we’ve decided to start trying some of these recipes. The new recipes may come from other blogs, internet sites, friends, family or the stack of magazine clippings that’s been piling up in my desk. As for tonight, we tried another kumara recipe from New Zealand – Kumara and Fish Cakes.

To begin preheat the oven to 375F and bake two white fish fillets until flaky (15-20 minutes). We used Alaskan cod tonight. Next finely chop three scallions and a red chili.

While the fish is baking, cook the peeled and cubed kumara in boiling water until tender. Add a half a bag of baby spinach and cook one more minute. Thoroughly drain the veggies.

Next flake the fish into a bowl with the chili and scallions and add the juice and grated rind of one lemon. Mix the mashed kumara and spinach with the fish and blend together well. Form six cakes and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Once the cakes are chilled, dip them into a whisked egg batter and coat them in bread crumbs. Grease a griddle with cooking spray and cook the cakes for 3-5 minutes per side, until browned. Serve with lemon wedges.

The kumara and fish cakes were delightful! They were especially good with lemon juiced over the top. Dad even ate his and admitted they weren’t terrible. Still it’s the last time I’ll make him eat sweet potatoes for a while. Miss A and Mr. N opted not to eat these tonight, so they had Alaskan cod dipped in a milk/Dijon batter and coated with bread crumbs. They ate that up and wanted more! I’m probably the only one that would eat this again – it was delicious in my book (and healthy too!). The original recipe from New Zealand Woman’s Weekly called for 1/4 c of coconut cream to be added to the potatoes when mashed. I left it out for today, but  may give that a try next time (when I feel like cooking for myself!).

Print this recipe: Kumara and Fish Cakes

17 thoughts on “Crayons and Kumara”

    • ChefMom says:
      Reply

      Thanks! Mr. N is so excited about it. I can’t take credit for the pdf idea – my mom actually requested it! It’s been a nice option for us too though – we’ve been printing the recipes off and started a collection. 🙂 Last night my dad shared a cookbook with me from his grandma. It’s all hand-written recipes and clippings posted in a ledger book that she kept (and similar to your mom’s that was passed to you – she has margin notes about certain recipes). I may use some of the recipes for posts at some point, but anyway it was really special to see. We’re kind of doing the same thing now…just in a more modern form.

      Like

  5. Amy says:
    Reply

    Looks good to me! I bet if I made it into a ball rather than a cake shape my little one might go for it. She loves a ball of meat!

    Like

    • ChefMom says:
      Reply

      Now there’s a thought! Although I don’t think that would even work with these guys. I’m just happy they’re eating fish at this point…I’ll keep trying with the sweet potatoes though. (With the exception of Dad – I don’t think he can be won over.)

      Like

  6. Babs says:
    Reply

    Mr N. I LOVE your logo! I was able to click on it and make it bigger so I could see it better. You really did a great job. I would probably like this recipe, but I don’t think many others in my house would like it! I love reading (and have even tried some recipes) your about your cooking adventures!

    Like

    • ChefMom says:
      Reply

      Mr. N will be so excited to read these comments! And I think that I’ll have to have you, mom, and Katy over and we’ll eat these together. I would love another excuse to make them again.

      Like

  7. Grammie says:
    Reply

    Please let Mr. N know that his logo is just what was needed in that spot. It looks great. I intend to try this. Since I’m a kumara lover but not too crazy about fish, this might be just the thing to get some healthy omega 3s in me other than in gigantic capsules. It sounds delicious.

    Like

  8. sallybr says:
    Reply

    I have to say I find these recipes you cook from all over the world a fascinating experience! One can learn so much about a country by learning what they eat, which is often linked to what grows there, what past generations have lovingly fed their kids.

    wonderful!

    Like

    • ChefMom says:
      Reply

      Thanks Sally! I never thought of it that way…I’m saving all of our recipes in a book for our kids. Hopefully they’ll pass it along for generations too someday. 🙂

      Like

Thank you for commenting!