Many people enjoy fish, either fried, grilled, steamed, baked, or some other wonderful creations. There are so many delicious seafood recipes and it is relatively easy to prepare and cook fish.

Vikings have always enjoyed fish, and since I lived in a coastal village growing up, our family often ate fish. It was locally caught fish and other seafood. Nothing exotic, but damn delicious.

A very good childhood friend and I often went fishing. He was more successful in catching stuff than I was, but it was such a great experience just hanging out all day trying to catch the mythical super-sized pike roaming the lakes we explored.

We loaded the bags with sandwiches and sodas, packed the bicycles with our rods and other gear, and headed off down the road – often driving many miles to get to our destination.

Just like Bilbo and Frodo Bagins, we were exploring the world right outside our doors.

Kids don’t do that anymore. We can’t trust people, and too many cars flying down the roads. It is a scary world we live in. I’m sad that my kids cannot go on these bicycle adventures with their friends. They are confined to exploring back gardens and hoping parents can drive them.

Teaching kids to eat better

I know a lot of people rely on and eat store-bought premade freezer food, but it is not healthy eating. It is cheap and offers easy-to-cook options, but I’m not sure what ingredients and additives they actually include.

As a parent, it is my responsibility to make sure my kids eat well. I’m attempting to include a lot of fish in our diet, and also teach them how to make stuff from scratch instead of all the store-bought shit that we can consume.

I want to share some “ancient” recipes with my family, and hopefully encourage them to eat well, and learn from my mother’s cookbook. No, she never wrote a book but assembled many delicious recipes over time.

When I was a kid, my mum often cooked plaice and served it with parsley sauce and new small potatoes. Marvelous and extremely tasty. You have to be careful with the small bones. Other than that, excellent!

Some days, she would make fish meatballs. Same shape and size as the pork meatballs that I have shared previously, and the approach is very similar. You basically use minced (chopped) fish instead of the ground pork … and a few other spices of course.

She would visit the local fishmonger and get a few pounds of his minced or groundfish. It is mostly made up of white fish such as cod. Cod is more readily available in Denmark than other white fish. Somewhat cheap and packed with flavor.

Time to cook fish meat balls

The key to any meal is sourcing the ingredients. The closer to the origin of the products you can get, the more flavorful and healthier it is. Or course, if you have access to fish or hunt, then the quality is even better.

Our local supermarkets offer a great alternative to good produce, although I prefer local farmers’ markets, sea mongers, and butchers. But, like most families, we shop for most of our needs at the local supermarket.

It is really not that difficult to make fish meatballs from scratch. Like with any other meal, it is the preparation and cooking that take time. It deters people from doing home-cooking as they cannot be bothered with the prep or clean-up.

1-2-3 start the cooking machines

Make sure you have the following ingredients ready, including a large bowl, butter for frying, and a reliable large frying pan.

Instead of regular milk, I try to use alternative and healthier products such as almond milk. The spices I buy have less sodium, and I avoid salt altogether.

• 1.8-2.0 lbs of fresh cod
  • you might be able to get your fishmonger to chop/grind the fish for you
• 300 ml of milk (Almond, regular, etc. – your choice)
• Two large eggs
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs (panco)
• 1 tablespoon of onion powder
• 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning

Preparing the fish meat mixture is straightforward, and shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.

1. Chop the cod with a sharp knife on a wooden cutting board
2. Place the ground fish in a large bowl
3. Add the following ingredients
   1. eggs, flour, Panco, and spices
4. Add 200 ml of milk, and mix it well
5. Add more milk, until you have a good thick fish meat mixture
   1. the mixture should be thick enough to stay together.
   2. you do not want fish pancakes!
6. Let the fish mixture chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours
7. Add two tablespoons of butter to the pan, and melt it until bubbling
   1. you do not want the butter to turn dark and burn, but a little hotter than medium
8. Shape each meatball using a tablespoon, a little bigger than a tabletennis ball
9. Fry the meatballs for about 6-8 minutes, then flip them
10. Fry for anohter 5-7 minutes, or until they feel firm to the touch

You should get 14-20 good-sized meatballs, enough for a family of five.

Serve the yummy meatballs with potatoes and a nice parsley sauce. Alternatively, make the meatballs a little bigger and serve them as fish sandwiches aka burgers.

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