I have to tell you I’m pretty excited to share an Aruban fish cake called Frekedel with Creole Sauce. It’s part of this month’s Food of the World celebration.
A fish cake from an island nation
What I know about Aruba can fit into a thimble. It’s an island in the southern Caribbean, just off the coast of Venezuela and the main industry is tourism. Its citizens belong to the Netherlands and are considered Dutch. That’s a thimbleful, isn’t it? At any rate, regional and colonial influences abound in the food of Aruba.
Such is the case with frekedel. The recipe I worked from was an old family recipe belonging to an Aruban chef. They used native red snapper that had been poached in a court bouillon. I used hake and poached it in salted water with lemon. Any firm white fish will be fine for this.
The Creole sauce is a little bit different. Anyone who’s seen Emeril Lagasse cook knows all about “the Trinity” of celery, onion and bell pepper in Creole cooking. This version doesn’t have celery and it’s seasoned simply with salt, pepper and nutmeg. I’m not sure if it was a mistake (there are other problems with the recipe) or if Grandmother didn’t like celery. Either way, I didn’t use celery and still liked the sauce. Dice up a stalk if you want.
Frekedel reminds me of some of the more elaborate tapas we’ve had. (The fancy ones you have to pay for versus the ones that come with a drink). For that reason I served them on top of a large bread crouton instead of the Aruban pancake pan bati. We’ve had a couple tapas which employed the same presentation. ¡Vaya pinta!
Ingredients
For the fish cakes
- 1 lb hake or other firm white fish
- water for poaching
- salt for water
- 1/2 lemon
- 2 slices bread, crusts removed (I used a whole grain bread with seeds)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- enough milk to wet the bread
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
For the Creole Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 red pepper. diced small
- 1/2 green pepper, diced small
- 1/2 medium onion, diced small
- 2 garlic cloves, diced small
- 1 tomato, seeds removed, diced small
- juice from 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg more or less
Other
- oil for frying the frekedel
- seasoned flour for breading the fish cakes
- a toasted crouton for each frekedel
- chopped fresh basil or parsley for garnish
- slice lemons
Instructions
- Fill a large skillet about an inch and a half deep with water and add salt.
- Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and heat until simmering.
- Reduce the heat slightly and poach the fish for about 10 minutes or until the fish is opaque and flakes easily.
- Remove from heat.
- While the fish is cooling make the Creole sauce by sauteing the peppers and onions in the butter until softened.
- Add the tomatoes and ketchup and season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer until the vegetables are very soft. Add some water if needed to loosen the sauce. Keep warm while making the fish cakes.
- When the fish is cool enough to handle, break it into pieces and transfer into a mixing bowl.
- Pour enough milk over the bread to soak it.
- Squeeze out the milk and break up the bread into small pieces. Add to the fish in the bowl.
- Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir in the beaten eggs. Mix well.
- The mix should be wet, but manageable. If it doesn't hold it's shape you can add dry bread crumbs.
- Form the fish into 4 - 6 cakes and dredge them in a little flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
- Heat enough oil to pan fry the fishcakes in a large skillet.
- Fry them for 4 or 5 minutes on each side or until nicely browned and heated through. Work in batches to avoid crowding the pan. Drain on paper towels.
- Use a biscuit cutter or large glass roughly the size of the fishcakes to cut out croutons from sliced bread then toast them as desired.
- To serve, spread a little Creole sauce on a plate, then stack the crouton and frekedel on top. Add more Creole sauce and garnish with fresh herbs.
You will love Frekedel with Creole Sauce from Aruba. There are a lot of ingredients, but they come together into a memorable dish. Unfortunately the Food of the World party is now defunct, but I still enjoy trying new cuisines.
Have A Good Day
Dear Lydia,
I am from Aruba and I am happy that you like the food and recipes. The picture looks amazing.
However I have to correct you on one point in your article. I have also read it at other websites but it is not correct: “Its citizens belong to the Netherlands and are considered Dutch”. Aruba is part of the Dutch Kingdom (the Dutch Commonwealth). The history is very complicated after Aruba has been colonized by more than 6 countries, the Dutch being the last one.
Being part of the Dutch Kingdom only entails military assistance in situations when requested/needed. Governance, legislation & judiciary is done by Aruba itself. Plus, Aruba is not financial dependent on the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Arubans have the Dutch passport, but they do not consider themselves Dutch at all. Neither do the Dutch nor the other islands that are part of the Dutch Kingdom, nor the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The passport is the method to show allegiance to the Dutch Kingdom to enjoy protection.
In other words, Aruban citizens do not belong to the Netherlands, but Aruba is a part of the Dutch Kingdom. Aruba has the “status aparte”. this means that it is a self-governing territory in the Dutch Kingdom, an equal partner like the Netherlands.
The population of Aruba is a mix of native Americans (who where there long before the arrival of Columbus) and descendants of 60 different nationalities who have settled on the island over a period of 150 years. Dutch people in Aruba are only a few. Taking into account the history of Aruba and the Caribbean, Caribbean people do not like to be put in a box with those who colonized them.
Just to point out: there are no negative feelings towards the Dutch and the Netherlands, however history cannot be forgotten and set aside. If one is born in Italy and has an American passport, did does not make him American because in the heart he/she is an Italian.
Aruba is small and not well known in the world, but we appreciate to be recognized for what we are: people from Aruba.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your first hand knowledge. It’s greatly appreciated.
My next destination will be Aruba. Just looking at the fish cake is amazing. I’m really interested how the rest of the food is over there. Thanks for sharing this gorgeous recipe.
You’re welcome, Chef! Hope you make it to Aruba 🙂
Look at that fish cake! I too know almost nothing about Aruba, but I can really get behind this dish!
The sauce works well with chicken and tofu, too. I haven’t gotten around to trying it with eggplant yet, but I will soon.
Oh my that looks delicious! I want it on my table stat!
Hope you love it like we did!
Well my Mom is from Aruba so I know a lot about the island and have visited many times but despite it being such a small country it is very multi cultural so I am not surprised I have not heard of this recipe as my family is from the Suriname/Indonesia/Indian part of the society so I am unaware of some of the native recipes as my family has only been there for about 3 generations.
Glad to discover it!
I really enjoyed reading your post and your photos, especially the one’s that illustrate how Aruba is a “desert isle.” I can’t imagine living there 100 years ago and being dependent on what you could grow yourself, catch yourself and buy from the supply boats.
Love the addition of nutmeg! Sounds healthy and delicious!
I rarely use nutmeg except in baking. It definitely made a difference in the flavor.
Mm this does sound amazing Lydia! The list of ingredients is a bit overwhelming, but if I print it out, I’m sure I’ll feel less overwhelmed 🙂 Can’t wait to give it a try!
A lot of the ingredients are seasoning, so it won’t be too bad once you get everything ready to go. 🙂
What a gorgeous dish! My husband loves fish, and I bet he’d love this.
I hope he’s able to give it a try ☺
These fish cakes look delicious! Makes me want to have one right now 🙂
We eat fish and peppers all the time but the nutmeg used really gives the recipe an exotic vibe.
This looks amazing. I am pinning this recipe to try later!
Thank you for pinning!
I’ve never tried those cakes, looks so sweet and tempting!! I’m gonna grab it from my screen lol.
Thanks, for dropping by and taking the time to comment, Nicole!
I love fish cakes and your recipe looks and sounds delicious!
Do give them a try. You’ll love the sauce 🙂
I have never tried Aruban flavored anything. Your recipe looks so delicious.
I’ll bet you could come up with many uses for the Creole sauce 🙂
Those are really beautiful looking! I’d happily give this a try at my place.
Thank you! They were fun to make.
This dish looks amazing! Beautiful presentation!
We enjoyed it, thank you for the kind words 🙂
This looks like something my family would love! So full of flavor!
It was very flavorful. I absolutely loved this version of the Creole sauce.
I am not much of a fish eater, but these fish cakes look amazing. I would have to try them!
I’m from the Chesapeake Bay region which is known for seafood, but we’ve found we eat much more seafood in a wider variety now that we’re living in Spain. I’m still scratching my head at that one.
I grew up eating Dutch food since my mother is from the Netherlands. I haven’t had anything like this and I feel like I’m missing out. This looks really good and seems simple to make.
It wasn’t difficult at all, although you have to cook the fish first. You could certainly plan ahead and make sure you have extra from another meal. Hope you give it a try 🙂
Your thimbleful of knowledge is about as big as mine. I really enjoyed the story you told with this recipe, I absolutely love how dishes change over times for various reasons and take on an entirely new life. This looks extremely delicious. I’d order it off a menu, it looks that good.
Thanks, Michelle. It would be good with a nice crisp glass of white wine 🙂
That looks so delicious! I love the bed of creole sauce at the bottom.
Me, too. I wish I’d made more. Oh well, there’s still fish in the sea 🙂
It looks amazing, Lydia! i love trying different foods from around the world, and seafood is one of my favorites! I skip the celery most of the time too…I don’t know why. I guess I just don’t use it enough in my regular cooking.
I know what you mean. We really only use celery for tuna salad and soup base. This was a fun recipe, I hope you get a chance to make it.
I love that your recipe is based on a family recipe. The creole sauce looks amazing to me. Pinning.
That part really appealed to me, too. I could have eaten the Creole sauce with a spoon, hahaha
I have not tried Emeril Lagasse’s creole sauce but love his creole seasoning. I use it a lot for seasoning my fish. Fish cake looks good.
Thanks for the tip, I’ll have to give his Creole seasoning a try.
This looks amazing!! I think my whole family would love something like this, pinning!
Thanks for pinning! With all the chopping and mixing it’s a good recipe to enlist the help of kids old enough to handle a knife. Hope you all like it!