Baked Fish Fritters + Wild Sauvignon #EattheWorld

It's hard to believe that 2018 is more than halfway over. Here we are in July for another installment of our #EattheWorld project, being spearheaded by Evelyne of CulturEatz. Here's her challenge.

In February we kicked off the project with Cuba; in March we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a tabletop trip to Ireland! Thailand was our April destination. May had us headed to Kenya. And last month, Evelyne asked us to create a dish from Sweden. This month she said, "We're exploring New Zealand." Before I get to my failure and success, take a look at the offerings...

The #EattheWorld New Zealand Dishes

• Evelyne of CulturEatz: New Zealand Lolly Cake 
• Juli of Pandemonium Noshery: Hokey Pokey Ice Cream 
• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Baked Fish Fritters + Wild Sauvignon
• Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures: Kiwi Burger 
• Wendy of a Day in the Life on the Farm: Kiwi Pavlova 
• Heather of Based on a True Story: Kiwi-Strawberry Trifle

Baked Fish Fritters

These are less traditional and more 'inspired by' a New Zealand recipe. And the first recipe that I tried was a complete flop - as in inedible-straight-to-the-garbage-can flop. Oh, well. It happens. I'll try that again another time, but for this event, I am sticking with the one that I actually served to my family.

Traditionally these are made with whitebait and they are fried. I adapted it to use small, local-to-me fish - anchovies - and I baked ours. The verdict was, "These are really, really fishy, Mom. You've made more appealing fish dishes than this. But, it's okay."

Ingredients

• 1 C flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• freshly ground salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C milk (I used whole milk)
• butter or oil for greasing pan
• 12 anchovy fillets
• also needed: baking dish (I used an 8" pie pan)

Procedure 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the eggs and half the milk. Keep adding milk until the batter is smooth. Grease baking pan and pour batter in, smoothing the top to even it out.

Place in the oven to bake for 10 minutes. I wanted to top set enough that when I place the anchovies on it, they wouldn't sink in.

After 10 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and arrange the anchovies on the top. I placed them around like hands on a clock. Return the pan to the oven and bake until golden brown and puffed, approximately 10 to 15 more minutes.

The fritter will deflate as it cools. Slice and serve immediately. These also work well chilled, so it can be made ahead of time for a lovely picnic.

Wild Sauvignon

As I often pair wines and food for different events, I stumbled across this one - Greywacke's 2015 Wild Sauvignon from Marlborough, New Zealand - and knew I would pour it for this month's #EattheWorld. 

Grapes for this wine were sourced from vineyards across the Southern Valleys and from the central Wairau Plains, specifically in Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura. The grapes were pressed lightly and cold-settled before racking and allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation which, I suspect, lent itself to the 'wild' moniker.

What struck me immediately was how aromatic it was. Heady and decadent, I got floral notes of jasmine and honeysuckle. On the palate, it was less floral and more fruity with layers of summer stone fruits with herbaceous hints of tarragon and thyme. Simultaneously rich and fresh, this was a great match to the fish fritters.

In a couple of days, Evelyne will reveal our next destination. I hope you'll stick around and see where we're headed next. I love this group.