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Tuna Hot Dish Cakes


  • Author: Tessa
  • Total Time: 1 hour 50 mins
  • Yield: 12 large cakes 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 C frozen corn, thawed and drained of any water
  • 1/2 C frozen peas, thawed and drained of any water
  • 1 T butter
  • 5 oz. button mushrooms, chopped small (1 1/2 C chopped)
  • 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped (1 C chopped)
  • Kosher salt
  • Ground black pepper
  • Optional: up to 1 T hot sauce
  • 4 oz. potato chips (I used salt and pepper flavor kettle cooked; half of a standard bag)
  • 15 oz. (3 small cans) tuna, packed in water, drained
  • 1 T chopped chives, plus more for garnish
  • 6 T mayonnaise (1/4 C + 2 T)
  • 1 T dijon mustard
  • 1/4 C vegetable or other high heat, neutral tasting oil
  • Optional: lemon wedges for garnish
  • 1 large egg

Instructions

  1. Roughly chop the peas and corn or pulse a few times in a food processor. You still want recognizable pieces, but cutting down the size helps the cakes hold together better.
  2. Melt butter in a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and toss to coat. Stir after two minutes, then allow to cook another two minutes undisturbed. Add onions and ½ teaspoon salt, reduce heat slightly, and cook 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are very soft. Return heat to medium, add corn and peas, and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until warm and thawed. Stir in a pinch each of salt and pepper, plus desired amount of hot sauce if using. Empty mixture to a bowl and put in the fridge to cool quickly.
  3. In the meantime, process the chips to a fine crumb (a minute or two of pulsing).
  4. Flake drained tuna into the bowl of mushroom mix once cooled to room temperature or colder. Add chip crumbs and chives and stir, breaking apart large tuna chunks. Stir in mayonnaise and mustard.
  5. Important: taste NOW before adding raw egg. The egg acts as a binder and shouldn’t affect the current seasoning much. I added a pinch of salt and ¼ t black pepper. The chips I used were very well seasoned.
  6. Add unbeaten egg and stir until incorporated. Refrigerate the mixture for at least 15 minutes, allowing chips to soak in moisture and bind the mix. Form patties of 1/3 cup each of the mixture, ½ to ¾” thick and 3 inches in diameter (palm sized). Wipe out the nonstick pan used earlier with a paper towel or dish cloth.
  7. Heat a 2 teaspoons of oil over medium heat for a couple minutes—you want it as hot as it will get over medium so the patties sizzle a bit when added. Depending on the size of your pan, add about two patties at a time, cooking 4 to 5 minutes per side. If the patties get too dark on the outside before four minutes is up, decrease the heat a little. The goal is to cook the patties (namely, the egg) through without burning the outside.
  8. Serve with lemon wedges and garnish with additional chopped chives (or some more potato chip crumbs for a fun look).

Notes

If serving as an appetizer, form smaller cakes if desired. As long as they’re not super thin, the cook time should be approximately the same. Keep warm on a wire rack in a low oven.

Prep time includes 30 minutes of inactive refrigeration.

To make dairy free, substitute olive oil for the butter.

Substitute yellow mustard for dijon in a pinch.

Make the mushroom and vegetable mixture in advance and store covered in the refrigerator for a few days, or mix everything and form the cakes, and store for a day in the refrigerator (shorter life once raw egg is added, and the chip crumb will start to absorb too much moisture, producing a mushy cake that doesn’t hold together).

  • Prep Time: 55 mins
  • Cook Time: 55 mins
  • Category: Appetizer, Entree
  • Cuisine: Dairy Free, Gluten Free