What To Do With Kahawhai...Fish Cakes Of Course

Meeta from What’s For lunch Honey has an event called Monthly Mingle. This month Comfort Food is the Subject.
There is nothing more comforting than Fish Cakes and I have the perfect recipe...Have a look at Meeta’s site here

We were in beautiful Whangaroa still.
Kind people from the good ship Donella anchored in our bay gave us a freshly caught Kahawhai…they were inundated with fresh tuna and the Kahawhai was superfluous to their needs. Not ours though.



This fish is an oily fish and really best suited to either Sashimi and it is particularly excellent for fish cakes.
Kahawhai needs to be bled immediately when caught and the nice Donella people did that so I just had to gut and filet it
So for the fish cakes

2 large filets kahawhai about 300 gms
300 mls milk
2 bay leaves
½ onion
Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt


1 large kumara (sweet potato) peeled and chunked
Other half of the onion chopped
Good knob of butter

2 eggs

2 tablespoons chopped coriander/cilantro

Japanese Panko Breadcrumbs (the best)
Olive oil and a knob of butter for frying

Poach the fish in the milk with the aromatics
Only about 5 minutes don’t overcook
Remove, flake and set aside

Meanwhile boil the kumara and onion in salted water
Drain and mash with butter and the strained milk from the fish till you get a nice wet consistency
Add eggs and fish and coriander
Test seasoning and correct if necessary

Roll into cakes and cover with the breadcrumbs

Pop into the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up
Fry in the oil and butter mixture on medium heat till golden brown.

You could make a sauce to go with these but I really like them with just a little lemon squeezed over them and a little salad on the side.
We invited Geoff and Laurian over to join us and Laurian brought the salad.
Share and share alike on boats.

Excellent philosophy.

Pizza at it's Homemade Best

Hi my first post for 2008 and I thought it was a good opportunity to submit to the Hay Hay It’s Donna Hay Pizza event.This is hosted by Chichajo from 80 Breakfasts... you can get the link to the HHDD event at this link

This my version for the easiest So Simple Pizza

We are still on board Cajun Moon where we have spending the last month in the sunny and not so sunny (as it turned out this year) Jewel of the North Whangaroa Harbour. A beautiful and unique place.

How's this for a sunset?

But back to Pizza

Step by step
You don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn for this bread
Max time: 1 hour 15 minutes from whoa to go
I have this down to a fine art and feel really confident that anybody could get the same results.
i.e. to get the water to the correct hand hot temp 2/3 cold water 1/3 just boiled water.
This is the right temp for our granddaughter’s mouth and perfect for bread making
You learn something everyday

! cup high grade flour (if you have Italian 00 more’s the better)
1 pkt 8g dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Approx 100 mls warm water prepare 200 mls just in case…some days it may take more
It’s important that the dough is not dry

Place flour in a large bowl
Add sugar, yeast and salt
(making sure the salt and yeast are not together
Salt kills yeast)

So add about 100 mls of water and mix till the dough comes clear of the bowl

Turn out onto floured board and knead about 1-2 minutes
Till dough is smooth
Place back into the bowl which you have oiled and toss around to coat the dough

Cover with tea towel or plastic wrap.
Leave till doubled in size about 30 minutes to an hour depending on the temperature
Pull away from sides of bowl

Turn back onto floured board and knead it well about another minute

Flour the rolling pin and roll into shape and place in oiled pizza pan

Now I do have a stone and a peel on board
and they have been well used, particularly by our son when he is on board but I think to myself… the pizza shop guys use these pans…why not me.
I sit the pan on the stone though to get maximum heat

On this occasion I just wanted to make pizza bread so I brushed an excellent olive oil
Over the top

Into a very hot oven and it should take anywhere between 10- 15 minutes
Check after 10 minutes.
It doesn’t need to be brown that makes it too crispy this is just perfect
Sliced into 6 pieces and served it with some beautiful tomatoes seasoned with sea salt and pepper and a drizzle of the good extra virgin olive oil

Some nice soft Castello cheese white and blue. Glass of crisp white wine.Lunch fit for a king.

Of course most times we add toppings.
This pizza I topped just simply with
Fresh tomato sliced
Spring onion chopped
Grated cheese (your choice...this was a mix of mozzarella and cheddar)
3-4 artichoke hearts
And few dashes of hot chilli sauce

It's so good I am going to make it again today