A couple of recipes. I like them both.

When I did the post on fish of New Zealand, I showed you whitebait. This recipe is called whitebait, but it is not, it is just supposed to mimic whitebait, using regular fish of any sort. 

White bait is very fine. You don't have to cut up the fillets THAT finely.

The school put this out last year but sales apparently were less than spectacular. They are giving them away now so I stopped the other day and got one...and found this recipe. 

Here's the recipe:

Take whatever fillets of fish you have and slice the fish into really thin strips, almost whitebait size. Season the fish and make sure you use some black pepper to become the 'eyes' of the whitebait.

Put them in a bowl and sprinkle enough flour over them, while turning them over, to coat them all.

Mix up a couple of eggs in a bowl. Take a medium handful of fish and form it into a flat pattie. Dip it into the egg, making sure it is well coated, and then drop it into the pan. Cook them in a mixture of butter and oil (important). Flip when golden.

Jeanne made these for us the other day and we found them very good. It changes the consistency of the fish. It also makes a limited amount of fish go a long way.  

And now for something completely different.  

This next one is called Tero Tero

One day, at the Aussie Butcher, I saw a package of tero tero in the 'offal' section of the cooler. Doing my research later at home, I found that it is pork intestines. Now, I'm not suggesting that any of you search out the same, but the sauce that flavors the porkie bits is the good stuff, and that's what I'm suggesting you try. It's spicy and is great. Here is the list of ingredients from a site on line. I am not going to follow it exactly.

• 3 tbsp oil
• 5 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 kilogram pork tero tero
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 pcs bay leaf
• 3 pcs dried chillies(optional)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp pepper corns
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp fish sauce

My first suggestion is that you forget about the odd pork parts and substitute pieces of some other meat. Chicken wings would work I suppose or pieces of cut up breast meat or whatever. How about meatballs? Thinly cut pieces of pork steak or chops or whatever would be super because this is a porkish recipe after all.  

Par-boil whatever meat you're using for a bit. 
Get out your frying pan and saute the garlic in the oil.  Add the drained meat chunks. Heat up the meat again and start to brown it a little. Put in the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the sauce gets thick enough to coat the meat nicely.  

A couple of notes. DO NOT use the teaspoon of salt. Taste the sauce and add whatever salt you think it needs AFTER it is done. 

Please try to find and use the fish sauce. It does not make it taste fishy, but I've made this stuff both with and without it and with it is better. It adds a different layer of flavor somehow. 
In fact, when I make this, I add a little more fish sauce than it calls for. (the soy sauce and fish sauce are both salty) 

I also didn't add all that sugar. I'd start with one tbsp. and add more if you think the sauce needs it. This is the sort of recipe that exact amounts do not need to be followed. You should do some tasting before you serve it and add more of this or that if you want to. 

The amount of dried chilies you add too really depends on how hot your chilies are and how hot you like your food. Experiment. 

And I preferred to put in ground black pepper instead of peppercorns. I have never liked biting down on a peppercorn I hadn't noticed. 

Although the recipe I saw on line doesn't mention vegetables, the next time I make this I am going to cut some good sized chunks of carrot and cauliflower. I'll probably add them when I add the meat. I don't want them mushy, I want them a bit crunchy yet, but I think they would add a contrast to just meat. 

This is the kind of thing that you might like to try on a cold afternoon when you don't have anything else to do. It's not a main course, and meant to be served over mashed potatoes. It's an appetiser or something to serve with ice cold beverages of your choice. Do you have a long loaf of French bread? That would go with this too. Your next ball game could be more interesting with this at half-time. 

The island people here love this stuff, as does the Asian community. 

If you do try this, take a walk afterwards in the snow, or do some shoveling and you won't feel so guilty for how many meatballs (or whatever) you spear and savor.