Crispy Oven Fried Fishwiches and My Mommy's Broccoli Salad

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Happy Tuesday Everyone!
Welcome to all my new followers from the Monday and Tuesday Blog Hops!  I am so glad you stopped by!
I have been craving fish, which is very hard to come by here in the Midwest.  I am a fish snob from the beautiful Pacific Northwest so when it comes to fresh fish I don't buy anything that comes from a fish farm.  I only spend my money on wild fish, preferably from the Pacific Ocean but in this part of the country I am lucky to get fresh fish from the Atlantic side, so I usually take what I can get.  Last week I was really excited to find some wild Sockeye at the store, something that is VERY hard to find here.  Unfortunately, when I got it home, it had such a terrible fish odor that I nearly vomited and had to throw it away.  Some of you who are not from my neck of the woods might be saying to yourself "but Elizabeth, it is SALMON and salmon is a FISH so it should smell like fish!"  No...no.  Good salmon, especially Wild Pacific Sockeye should NEVER have a fishy odor.  In fact, it should have no odor whatsoever.  If it smells like fish, then it has gone bad and you should not eat it. So there you have it, since moving to the Midwest my diet has gone from eating fish once or twice a week to barely even being able to eat anything but canned tuna more than once a month, if that.   This is the plight of a poor Northwestern girl who got uprooted to the Midwest.  So, I thought I would try again, seeing as my craving for fish keeps getting worse and worse and it was not satisfied, sadly, with the stinky salmon.  I was trying to decide what I could make that did not involve canned tuna, because lets face it, there is only so much you can do with canned tuna and when that is the only fish you have available to you it gets tiring pretty fast.  The store had wild Atlantic Cod on sale today, so I decided maybe that would be a little safer.  I happen to make this recipe a lot as fish sticks, but today I decided to fancy it up by making it into sandwiches.   Back home I used to make the fish sticks out of Halibut - oh how I miss Halibut.  Halibut is my favorite fish.  Second only to Salmon.  Fresh, wild Pacific Salmon - not Atlantic Salmon which is TOTALLY different.  Anyway, if you want to make this into fish sticks, just follow all of the instructions, except when you get to the part where you form them into patties, form them into long sticks instead, or nuggets.  Easy Peasy!  They can be frozen too!  I served these sandwiches up with my mom's broccoli salad which is SOOOOOOOO good!  Try it, you will LOVE it!  We are a broccoli loving family so it is no surprise that this is one of our favorite summer sides!  My mom puts chopped raw red onion in it.  I leave the onion out because raw onion literally makes me sick, but feel free to add it if you like!  During nap time I also threw together some buns in the bread machine and baked them off right before dinner.  I topped the sandwiches with cheddar cheese and homemade tartar sauce.  So yummy!

Crispy Oven Fried Fishwiches

• 1 lb fresh cod fillets (or other firm white fish- if you are in the PACNW and you have access to Halibut, I HIGHLY recommend using that instead of Cod)
• 1 egg
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots finely chopped
• 2 tsp. dill, divided
• 2 tbsp. dill pickle relish
• 1-2 cups bread crumbs 
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• 1-2 cups cornmeal
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted or olive oil
• sliced mild cheddar cheese (if desired)

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray generously with cooking spray, set aside.  Place the cod in your food processor and process about 1 minute.  Scrape fish into a bowl and mix with the egg, green onions, carrots, 1 tsp. dill, the relish, and the mayonnaise.  Add the bread crumbs a little at a time until the mixture is "dry" and holds together.  In a shallow dish, mix together the sour cream, lemon juice, the rest of the dill and the ground pepper.  In a second shallow dish, add the cornmeal.  With slightly wet hands, form the fish mixture into patties and coat with the cornmeal.  Place each patty on the cookie sheet.  Cover the patties with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour (I make these during nap time usually).  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees (yes, your oven needs to be screaming hot).  Remove the patties from the fridge and discard the plastic wrap.  Pour the melted butter or olive oil evenly over the patties- this will help them crisp up in the oven.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges start to brown.  Turn your broiler on high and broil for about 2 minutes or until the tops are brown and crispy.  BE SURE TO WATCH THEM CLOSELY, they can easily burn.  Add the cheese and broil until melted, if you are using it.  Serve on a crusty roll and top with tartar sauce.  Yummy!

My Mommy's Broccoli Salad

• 1 large head broccoli, cut into florets
• 1/2 cup smokehouse almonds
• 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup raisins 
• 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped (I leave this out but Mommy always puts it in)
• 1/4 cup coleslaw dressing (when I don't make it myself, I use Bolthouse Farms Yogurt dressing, love it, love it, LOVE IT!)

Steam the broccoli until it is just blanched, do not fully cook it. Cool the broccoli in the fridge (or I do it in the freezer, it's faster) Add the rest of the ingredients and stir together.  This is SO yummy, you will be going back for more!

Before I sign off for today, here is a picture of two very lazy dogs.  Very cute, but very lazy.  


Well that's all for now!  Until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!