Home Made Chicken Nuggets and Fish Fingers/Fishcakes

Anne_Marie_2

I used to make these when my daughter was little, but much time has passed by since then, and now have a 2 year old granddaughter to make for. I'm doubting myself as to what I did.

As I live abroad, they only visit once a year, hence my child cooking skills haven't been utilised in such a long time. I am intending on making some easy food for the freezer, such as chicken nuggets, fish fingers/fishcakes. Any other suggestions are welcome. I won't need to make a load of things, as I know that the little one loves pasta, loves her vegetables and fruit. I always have some home made tomato sauce in the freezer, but it's so easy to make one up with tinned or cartons of tomatoes anyway, so not a problem.

My memory is saying small pieces of uncooked boned chicken, coat in flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs, and I think that I repeated the dipping in egg and breadcrumbs again and chilled for a bit before cooking in the oven, or shallow frying.
I cannot remember if I made a batch up with fresh chicken pieces and then froze them. I don't think that I did way back then, as it wasn't advised to cook chicken from frozen. Things have changed these days, so is it ok to do this now?

As for the fish fingers or fishcakes, the shape matters not a jot.
I'm frightened that there are still bones in fresh fish filleted here. I was thinking of using a can of tuna or salmon to make into some kind of finger food using breadcrumbs to coat, but not quite sure what to do there. I know that I can add mashed potatoes for fishcakes, but my intention is to have mainly fish. Does anyone have a good recipe?

Nargleblast

Fishcakes - roughly half tinned fish and half mashed potato. Season with salt, pepper, finely chopped parsley and/or chives, squirt of lemon juice. Shape into rounds, chill in fridge. Coat in flour, dip in beaten egg, coat in crumbs then shallow fry till brown both sides.

suki1964

You have it right with the chicken bites. However in work we only use pre poached chicken as we have to ensure it's cooked through, without getting dried out or over crispy

You do need to add mash to fish for the fish cakes. I use tinned salmon and for adults I add chopped gherkins, parsley, hard boiled eggs and use tartare sauce as the binding agent. Nargleblast's recipe sounds good to me.

My grand kids do tend to eat more like mini adults, they get the same as us and grandson loves broccoli and cauliflower. As long as the meat is cut up small enough they tend to tuck in

Enjoy their visit

maman

Sorry to hijack the thread a little but has anyone tried the fishcakes without the flour or breadcrumbs?


The recipes sound good and really simple with tinned fish but I was hoping to keep bread/flour to a minimum.


I hope you have a great time with the family OP:).

joedenise

Maman - I make fishcakes with just mashed potato & tinned tuna or salmon. You need more seasoning with tuna than salmon.

I just mix them together, roughly 50/50, and then shape and firm up in the fridge for an hour or so. Then cook in oven about 180 until browned - it's a while since I made them but think they took about 15-20 minutes.

Denise

meritaten

I love fishcakes and always use canned salmon or tuna to make them. the bones in salmon are so soft they just get mushed up when mixing with the mashed potato. I do the 'double dip' too.
there is no reason you cant make the nuggets with fresh or previously frozen chicken - as long as you cook them before freezing and then heat them thoroughly before serving. I am sure they will be delicious!
btw - I vaguely remember watching a cookery programme and the presenter said that her mum used to make chicken nuggets by cubing fresh uncooked chicken and then dipping in mayo and rolling in crushed rice krispys. never tried it but its intrigued me since! I have to wonder if they taste like breakfast!

maman

joedenise wrote: »

Maman - I make fishcakes with just mashed potato & tinned tuna or salmon. You need more seasoning with tuna than salmon.

I just mix them together, roughly 50/50, and then shape and firm up in the fridge for an hour or so. Then cook in oven about 180 until browned - it's a while since I made them but think they took about 15-20 minutes.

Denise

Thanks for that denise. I'll give them a go.:)

JIL

maman wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread a little but has anyone tried the fishcakes without the flour or breadcrumbs?


The recipes sound good and really simple with tinned fish but I was hoping to keep bread/flour to a minimum.


I hope you have a great time with the family OP:).

To add a bit of interest its nice to shape them around a small piece of cheese such as mozzarella, brie or cheddar before baking.

Willowpop

I always make chicken nuggets using chopped chicken breast dipped in egg and then crushed cornflakes.Bake in the oven for about 20 mins on 180. Sounds weird,but I promise you, they taste amazing hot or cold!

Anne_Marie_2

Thanks everyone. The fishcake tips are all brill, and I do like the idea of putting a cube of cheese in. Tuna or salmon with some chives, sound just the ticket.

Also thanks for confirming that I've remembered correctly for the chicken nuggets. That's a great idea to poach the chicken first, I would never have thought of that, and there would be no worries about not being cooked through properly. Definitely will go down that road.

Reading all the tips has brought back another recipe I used to make, which was potato croquettes, with added veg like sweetcorn and peas and a bit of grated cheese. So will make some of those too. Probably will make a load of these, as know that my daughter loves them too.

I'm not sure that I would fancy coating anything in rice crispies, it does sound kind of breakfasty! Think I'll just make some breadcrumbs up, that will be easy.

I can feel a grand cook-in coming on!

cat4772

Annabel Karmel's kids recipes usually use crushed cornflakes - they were nice and crunchy. My aunt has used crushes rice krispies instead of breadcrumbs

Cat.xx