I have mixed feelings about fish cakes and burgers. The first versions I remember tasting were British patties heavy on potato with little fish flavor. Then I discovered small Thai-style cakes that tasted of the sea but whose spiciness sometimes overpowered the mild fish. My favorite fish cakes fall somewhere between: just enough filler to keep the fish-loaded patties from falling apart, and plenty of flavor without overpowering the fish.

The fish cake recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon hits both marks. I originally created it as an oven recipe, because baking on trays let me leave some larger chunks of fish in the patties. It works well—if you don’t mind the heat and lingering aroma in the house. When I want to avoid those, I fire up the grill, both for the initial roasting of the vegetables, which adds flavor and removes moisture so that the cakes hold together without breadcrumbs or potatoes, and for the final cooking, which happens quickly on a hot grill mat.

Learn more about making fish patties and get the complete recipe for Grilled or Baked Fish Cakes in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

As I was developing this fish cake recipe, I was also working on a one-prep, two-meal series and paired these fish cakes with Marinated and Grilled Fish Skewers. The combination works particularly well if you’re using halibut pieces or other fish steaks that are easy to cube and slide onto skewers. Start by buy 2 pounds of fish. As you prep the ingredients for the fish cakes, set aside the rest of the fish, bell pepper, and onion to cut into kebab-friendly chunks.

The meal order works both ways: Make and enjoy the fish cakes first, and store the skewer ingredients in the fridge for the next night. Alternately, grill the fish cake ingredients, mix them together, and stash them in the fridge for up to four days before shaping and cooking the cakes; meanwhile, on the still-hot grill, cook the skewers for that night’s dinner. Fish cakes keep well and are delicious when briefly reheated or even cold, so you could grill the skewers and cakes all in one go. That said, I guarantee you won’t be able to resist eating at least some of the fish cakes just off the grill, so the rest might be better served for breakfast with fried eggs on a bed of greens or poached eggs on Stovetop Sourdough English Muffins.

While the grill is hot, char a vegetable side dish or two to round out the meal. Here are just a few other grilling recipes on the blog that pair well with fish cakes and skewers. You can find more in the recipe index.

• Orange-Kissed Grilled Broccoli
• Husk-Grilled Corn with Smoky Lime Butter
• Grilled Asparagus
• Veggie Shish Kebabs with Garlicy Marinade

You can also learn more about one of my favorite grilling tools, copper grill mats, in this blog post.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.