Hey, foodies in the hive!

I hope Sunday was good to you. It has ceratinly been good to me: I rested a lot and had time to prepare one of my favorite fish recipes, which I'm about to share with you 😁 It's such a simple and delicious smelling fishbone with potatoes recipe that even a carnivore would want to try.

I live in the northeastern part of Venezuela, where we can buy freshly caught fish sometimes at very cheap prices. For us here, it's common knowledge that fish, in general, is a necessary healthy food, even more so if we compare it with other meats, but don't be surprised if you come to my town and meet several people who will tell you that they don't eat it. They don't like it. They get annoyed dealing with the bones, or they don't like the taste, or even they just don't want the smell to linger in the house. This recipe may save you if you want to get to like fish again. The secret? Mashed potatoes.

In the photo above, you can see the one I made last week. I served it with boiled cassava and cachapa (our traditional corn cakes). Today (photo below) I prepared it to substitute the beef in a pabellón criollo (our national traditional dish).

Bonefish meat is firm and quick to marinate, so you can play with a variety of ingredients and spices. Besides it's quite affordable and a versatile food; It's deboned meat usually sells for between 4 and 5 dollars per kilo. The people of Margarita Island, also here in northeastern Venezuela, use it to make hallacas orientales (hallacas are one of our traditional Christmas dishes): they prepare the stew with this fish in substitution of pork and beef (and chicken). If you add, egg, flour or some starch, you can make patties for "fish-burgers" or fish nuggets for the kids.

INGREDIENTS

For 2-3 people:

350 gr deboned bnefish meat
3 tablespoons freshly crushed garlic
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
about 50 ml white cooking wine (I used Venezuelan Sagrada Familia)
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped parsley
salt to taste
about 10 ml olive oil (I used olive pomace oil today)
one medium to big potato to mash it (the more potato, the easier the fish meat will be to handle, and the softer the aroma & taste of fish)

THE PROCESS

Boiled potatoes

I prepared the potatoes first so they'd cook while I was preparing the rest. I peeled and cut a big potato into pieces and let it cook in water.

Freshly crushed garlic

I wanted a flavorful mince, so I used plenty of garlic. I crushed the peeled cloves in a mortar.

Freshly squeezed lemon juice & some white cooking wine

I used the freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon and some white cooking wine to get all the crushed garlic out of the mortar and into the flesh of the fish.

...added salt and olive pomace oil.

...and mixed well with a fork.

Then I finely chopped the parsley and red bell pepper, which I immediately mixed with the seasoned fish meat.

At this point, the potato was done, so I added it hot as it was.

...And I mashed it all.

And this was the result, a half raw, sticky fish and potato mince.

What follows is very easy. I poured the minced meat in a hot pan with a little olive oil. I let it cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. This can also be baked or steamed.

I really love the taste--every time. I have varied the recipe and used cilantro instead of parsley. Works wonderfully. Your guests who don't like fish may love it this way; if they are really picky, add more potato and luckily you'll have them eat a healthy and flavorful fish dish.