Coconut fish patty in a saffron crust

Juici...and if you don't know, now you know!

So this week I’m venturing into the seafood patty scene.  This is a coconut fish patty in a flaky saffron crust. The crust this week is much easier to prepare. I made my crust the day before kept everything as cold as possible.  The crust came out so flaky and delicious and the filling basically tasted like Jamaica.

I forgot I had bought (and hid) a little jar of saffron in the back of the pantry. So here I am searching on the back of the shelf for some chocolate only to pull out a jar of saffron. I was extremely happy about this find and immediately knew I would experiment with it to use as a color and flavor element for the crust, plus seafood and saffron go hand in hand. I didn't even strain the saffron threads I left them right in the dough. I figured the saffron is not cheap so I was not wasting any of it :)

You may be wondering about the crackers on the ingredients list. Patties generally have a very creamy texture, not crumbly so it needs a binder to aid in the texture. While most patty recipes, call for bread or breadcrumbs, I prefer crackers. Last year when I was experimenting with patty fillings I tried bread and I also tried crackers on an occasion where I didn’t have bread and I found the crackers to give a much smoother, creamier and silky texture as opposed to the bread that kind of just sucks up all the moisture. 

So here it is a very delicious lunch..hope you try it. 

Ingredients (printable recipe)

Crust Only (Printable recipe)

The filling:

3 fish filets

½ teaspoon salt (to season fish)

¼ teaspoon  black pepper (to season fish)

2 tablespoon oil

1 small tomato

1 small onion

¼ cup scallion

1 tablespoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon hot pepper

1 teaspoon thyme

¾ cup coconut milk

¼ cup crackers (crumbs)

½ teaspoon Sugar

¼ teaspoon Black pepper

½ teaspoon Salt (or more to taste)

The crust Dry:

2 cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup shortening

½ cup cold butter

Wet:

1 large pinch of saffron

1/3 cup water

½ teaspoon vinegar

1 egg
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Instructions

For the crust:

• Place the saffron in the 1/3 cup of hot/warm water
• Allow the saffon to bloom in the warm water set aside to get to room temp
• Once its at room temp you can also place it in the freezer or refrigerator to get cold
• Once the saffon liquid is cold combine it with the other wet ingredients
• Combine the dry ingredients, cut the fat into the flour mixture with a fork or dough cutter until the butter and flour form little balls coated with flour (almost resembling medium sized breadcrumbs)
• Pour the wet onto the dry and stir with a spoon until the dough has come together (do not use hands)
• Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes
• Roll out the dough on a floured work surface, fold in thirds and roll again place in the freezer for 5 minutes
• Repeat the process two more times until the dough is smooth and cold, (may have butter streaks in it)
• Store in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic while you make the filling. 

For the filling:

• Slice the fish filet into cubes and season with black pepper and salt
• Crush the crackers into crumbs
• Chop the onions, tomatoes, scallions, thyme, and hot pepper
• Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the veggies add the fish, sauté and cover to allow the fish to cook
• Once the fish begins to fall apart add the coconut milk, salt, sugar, black pepper and crackers
• Cover and allow to simmer
• Set aside to completely cool before adding to the patty crust.

To assemble:

• The dough makes eight patties
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
• Cut the dough in half and roll into a rectangular shape (about 10” by 22”) (for 4 patties)
• Spoon two to three tablespoons of filling equidistant from each other on one half of the dough
• Fold over the other half of the dough and gently press down removing any trapped air
• Seal the edges and cut into four
• Cut away any excess dough of each to form a patty shape and crimp the edges with a fork
• Poke a hole on top with a fork for steam to escape while cooking
• Place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 20 to 30 minutes

Greedy Tips:

• I think Ive been stuffing my patties too much, even though I love a meaty patty. Next week I'm going to go a little less heavy on the filling. But you are free to go as heavy or as light as you want.
• I made the crust from the night before and made the patties the next day. The dough was super cold and it yielded a very flaky crust because the butter did not melt.
• Make sure to remove all the excess liquid from the fish before cooking it. 
• As far as the saffron, it gives the crust a very earthy flavor, however I mainly used it as a natural coloring. Its quite expensive, so if you cant find saffron, just use a few drops of yellow food coloring in the 1/3 cup of cold water. 

 Xoxo Greedygirl