Gefilte Fish Loaf
By Amy Rosen, author of Kosher Style: Over 100 Jewish Recipes for the Modern Cook.
I’m not on board with grinding and poaching whitefish for hours and chilling it in its collagen-heavy fish stock. That’s why jarred gefilte fish is such big business. However, this easy take on gefilte fish features fresh fish, a quick bake and slicing sans fish jelly. It’s a slightly sweet and salty tradition, minus the stinky house.
Photo: Ryan Szulc
Ingredients
Makes 8-10 servings
2 large carrots
2 onions
2 lb boneless, skinless whitefish fillets such as carp, pollock or pike
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp sea salt
1 cup matzo meal
3 eggs
1 head leaf lettuce, for serving
Jarred beet horseradish, for serving
Curly parsley, for garnish
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9 × 5-inch loaf pan with vegetable oil.
In a food processor, finely grind the carrots and onions. Transfer the vegetables to a large bowl. Place the fish in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the fish to the vegetables, then add the sugar, pepper, salt, matzo meal and eggs. Mix well, then spoon into the prepared loaf pan, pressing down firmly with the back of a spatula and smoothing out the top.
Bake for 1 hour. Remove the loaf from the oven and run a knife around the edges to be sure it’s not sticking to the pan. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but it’s best to leave overnight.
When ready to serve, remove the loaf from the pan. Slice and serve cold on a nice piece of leaf lettuce with a dollop of spicy horseradish and a sprig of parsley.
Excerpted from Kosher Style: Over 100 Jewish Recipes for the Modern Cook by Amy Rosen. Copyright © 2019 Amy Rosen. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.