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Our New Favorite Single Malt Whisky Comes From … New York?

Shane Mitchell — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:45:00 +0000

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

The weather gods have not been kind to the Hudson Valley this summer. Waterways flooded, roofs ripped off, trees downed, crops flattened. Radar maps splashed with streaks of red like tomato sauce stains on an apron. Some people might be tempted to quit; then again, what is it they say about farmers being the ultimate optimists? It requires a certain resilience to grow what is meaningful to a place, let alone create a prize-winning whisky that is finally about to receive a designation of origin from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Tax and Trade Bureau. It’s the kind of game-changer that might give the old guard of the brown spirits world restless nights.

On sunnier days while driving down certain winding stretches of New York State’s Taconic Parkway, the Berkshires heave into view to the east, and then a few miles farther down the road, the Catskills appear across the Hudson, where the westerly peaks turn purple in the low light of dusk. This almost absurdly romantic backdrop enraptured mid-19^th-century landscape painters like Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church, and spawned an art movement known as the Hudson River School.

Since childhood, the vista has always caught my breath. The temperate valley between these two old mountain ranges certainly catches rain clouds. The region has a long history of agriculture, dating back to early Dutch settlements in the 1660s, with first crops like wheat and rye, hops and barley, grapes and apples. An obvious byproduct was booze: applejack, hard cider, brown spirits, beer. A wealthy brewer founded the college I attended in Poughkeepsie—on Founder’s Day every year, it was customary for the president of Vassar to chug a pitcher of beer, although I hear the practice has since gone out of vogue. (Shall we say the legal drinking age was lower back then?) More recently, with the passage of state liquor laws that incentivized microbrewers and distillers to launch projects here, the Hudson Valley has seen a new boom in production of small batch beverages.

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

“Our whiskies and beers taste like here,” said Dennis Nesel, owner of Hudson Valley Malt, based in Germantown. A retired financial adviser with a grizzled goatee, he now favors overalls and wields an old-fashioned malt rake. “We call it re-localization. There was a time when the grains were grown here and shipped downriver by sloop, but after Prohibition all that stuff moved West, so we’re bringing it back, trying to make the supply chain grown here, harvested here, distilled here.”

That aspiration has shaped a three-way collaboration. The others include a third-generation farmer, as well as one of the newest distilleries in a pocket valley near the Massachusetts border, where the family behind Tenmile Distillery is gambling on a rising demand for American single-malt whisky. Note: no “e.” We’re not talking bourbon or rye, but closer in spirit to uisge beatha, Scotland’s original water of life.

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

A few weeks before the valley was swamped with torrential rains, I climbed into a utility truck with farmer Ken Migliorelli to look at one of his fields planted with winter Scala barley. “We’re about a week away from harvesting,” he said, as we parked along the rural road near his crop outside the town of Tivoli. It’s a pretty grass, with a spiky seed head on a long stem that turns from emerald green to platinum blonde as it dries in the sun. Migliorelli took to farming when he was a teenager, and eventually expanded his family’s vegetable business, adding a fruit orchard, farm stands, and weekly market stalls, including Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan. He still grows the same variety of broccoli rabe his grandparents brought over when they emigrated from the Lazio region of Italy in the 1930s. Citing the new demand for spirit grains, the 63-year-old farmer has almost 350 acres of barley and another 50 acres of rye in cultivation, despite the challenges he faces growing these crops in the Hudson Valley.

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

“In 2021, that was a rough July,” he said. “It just started raining and wouldn’t stop. I lost the barley that we were combining because it pre-germinated out in the field. I could only sell it for animal feed.”

The vagaries of weather are a standard risk for any farmer; however, this spring a half-acre barn went up in a blaze, and Migliorelli lost 15 tons of barley, hay, tomato stakes, and a lot of equipment. His neighbors and loyal customers launched a fundraiser to help rebuild. He gazed out at his waves of grain, undaunted. For him, it’s one crop out of dozens during a year that starts with tender greens and crescendos with apple picking season.

When harvested, Migiolrelli’s grain heads to the malt house, less than ten miles away, for the next step in the process. “It’s a pretty tight circle from here to Dennis, and then down to Tenmile,” he said.

On a good day at Hudson Valley Malt, Nesel and his wife Jeanette Spaeth load 6,000 pounds of malted barley, rye, or wheat into a kiln. By hand. That’s the last step after the raw grain has been steeped and raked in a thin layer on a smooth concrete floor to germinate and develop the sugars that will convert to alcohol. “Floor malting is a craft and an art,” he said. “We do it old school, the way it was done in the 1850s. It’s definitely not glory work.”

Nesel and Spaeth both grew up in the Hudson Valley. After retiring from corporate life, they decided to convert their horse barn instead of downsizing. In 2015, they recognized that area distillers needed a local malting operation. (They have a hopyard as well.) “It would be too easy to go south, but we’re not snowbirds,” he said. “I was looking for a way for our farm to be more sustainable.”

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

The turnoff for Tenmile Distillery is a shunpike called Sinpatch. An apparent allusion to the area’s checkered past, it leads to the repurposed barn complex with a tasting room and a dining patio next to a parked vintage Airstream that belongs to Westerly Canteen, a restaurant popup serving a seasonal snack menu sourced from Hudson Valley producers. While in residence, chefs Molly Levine and Alex Kaindl celebrate summer with floral infusions, delicate crudos, and heirloom vegetables. In addition, chef Eliza Glaister of Little Egg favors wild game for her popups and occasional private tasting dinners.

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

When the couple delivers a load of malt, Tenmile’s master distiller Shane Fraser takes over. He walked me into the darkened cask warehouse where his single malt rests in French oak barrels that once held sherry, bourbon, and California pinot noir. (Tenmile founder John Dyson, who formerly served as New York State’s agricultural commissioner, also owns Williams Selyem Winery in Healdsburg.) Born in Aberdeen, Fraser learned his trade at several marquee distilleries, including Royal Lochnagar and Oban, before taking on the lead role at Wolfburn, a startup in the far north. Almost no one who achieves the elevated title of master distiller leaves the job security of his peat-and-heather homeland, but Tenmile presented Fraser with a challenge almost unheard of back in Scotland: creating a new brand of single malt. His first batch of fresh New Make—what we call moonshine or white dog—was barreled in January 2020. He also experimented with unorthodox cask woods, including smaller Italian cherry and chestnut barrels typically used for aging balsamic vinegars, because regulations remain fluid in the States for now. Fraser patted one on a rack. “That’s the thing with the new designation,” he said. “You have to be careful to make sure that it will be defined as American single malt. Because when those rules come out, you can’t use cherry.”

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

Currently, single malt producers in the States number fewer than 100, which means it’s still an exclusive club, but not the stuffy kind full of tufted leather chairs and cigar smoke. Establishing a formal standard of identity, and having that recognized at the federal level, will give distilleries here a better chance to compete against the global establishment. Single malt no longer means it has to taste like a burned-over bog.

Fraser pointed out another 140 acres of Ken Migliorelli’s ripening spring barley planted beyond a formal apple orchard and beehives. Then we entered the whitewashed brick dairy, where copper stills imported from Scotland have been installed behind a glass curtain wall in the converted great room. The bar, at the opposite end, has a full cocktail program designed around the distillery’s gin, vodka, and whisky.

Fraser and I sat down in the wood-paneled tasting room, and he poured a cask strength dram of Little Rest, Tenmile’s first edition bottling, into my tumbler.

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

We lifted glasses to our noses.

“I get tropical fruits coming through,” he said. “Some chocolate notes, and once it sits awhile on the tongue, there’s a bit of spice, almost like cinnamon. Every time you go back to it, you smell something different, because it’s so young and still got a bit of life to it. Some of the older whiskies, when you smell them, it’s like, well, whisky.”

I took a sip.

The Little Rest was released this April, after three years and a day in barrels, the minimum to be officially characterized as whisky. Comparably light in style, more like a subtle Speyside than a peaty Islay.

“You can see what a little rest does,” said Fraser.

He told me that someone else compared the flavor to a green Jolly Rancher, and sure enough, it did have a perky apple note.

Rain or shine, it tasted like home.

Recipe

Paper Plane

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

Get the recipe >

Clover Club Cocktail

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

Get the recipe >

Tuna Crudo with Chamomile Oil, Cucumber Salad, and Pea Shoots

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

Get the recipe >

Braised Rabbit with Pan-Fried Radishes and Creamy Polenta

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

Get the recipe >

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Tuna Crudo with Chamomile Oil, Cucumber Salad, and Pea Shoots

Molly Levine — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:45:00 +0000

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

In New York’s Hudson Valley, the height of summer means that the first lettuces and hearty greens of spring are finally replaced by more delicate herbs and tender vegetables at roadside stands supplied by local growers like Migliorelli Farm. This crudo with chamomile oil and cucumber salad is a celebration of those elusive seasonal delights. While “oils” often imply infusions or tinctures, this is an incredibly unfussy dish that does little to manipulate the fresh flowers. The only tool required is one of the oldest: a mortar and pestle. This tuna crudo recipe also leaves a lot of room for adaptation and substitution. “I am a stickler for sourcing, so I wait until tuna is being caught in Montauk from fishermen I trust,” explains chef Molly Levine of Westerly Canteen. “This recipe could easily sub in fluke, or halibut from the West Coast, or any other delicate fish that you would eat raw.”

If you can’t get fresh chamomile flowers, anise hyssop, fennel, or dill flowers are excellent substitutes.

Featured in “Our New Favorite Single Malt Whisky Comes From … New York?” by Shane Mitchell.

Yield: 4

Time: 45 minutes

½ cup fresh chamomile flowers
1 Tbsp. plus 1½ tsp. finely grated lemon zest
¾ cup olive oil
Kosher salt, to taste
3 small cucumbers
12 oz. fresh bigeye tuna, bloodline removed
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. finely grated lime zest
1½ Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 oz. (about 2 cups) pea shoots
Flaky salt

Instructions

Make the chamomile oil: In a mortar and pestle, pound the flowers until they just start to break down. Add the lemon zest and continue pounding until a coarse paste forms. Add the olive oil and season with kosher salt to taste. Set aside for at least 30 minutes so the flavors can infuse into the oil.
Make the cucumber salad: Slice half of the cucumbers into thin rounds and the other half into small bite-size chunks, transfer to a medium bowl, then add the lemon juice, lime zest, and lime juice, and season lightly with kosher salt.
Using a very sharp knife, cut the tuna along the grain into thin slices. Arrange the slices in a single layer on a serving plate or platter, season lightly with kosher salt, then drizzle over about half of the chamomile oil. Arrange the cucumber slices atop the fish and arrange the cucumber chunks around the edges of the plate. To the bowl that held the cucumbers, add the pea shoots and toss to soak up any remaining dressing. Pile the pea shoots atop the cucumber slices. Drizzle over the remaining chamomile oil and sprinkle with flaky salt. Serve tuna crudo immediately.

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Paper Plane

Courtesy Tenmile Distillery — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:45:00 +0000

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

Based on a cocktail popular in Prohibition-era gin joints, the Paper Plane belongs to the family of corpse revivers, created in the 19th century as hangover cures. This whisky-based version was first developed by bartender Sasha Petraske for The Violet Hour, a new-wave speakeasy in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

Featured in “Our New Favorite Single Malt Whisky Comes From … New York?” by Shane Mitchell.

Yield: 1

Time: 5 minutes

¾ oz. Amaro Nonino Quintessentia
¾ oz. Faccia Brutto aperitivo
¾ oz. fresh lemon juice
¾ oz. Little Rest whisky

Instructions

To a cocktail shaker, add the Amaro, aperitivo, lemon juice, whisky, and enough ice to fill it about halfway. Shake well, strain into a coupe glass, and serve immediately.

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Clover Club Cocktail

Courtesy Tenmile Distillery — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:45:00 +0000

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

Named for a turn-of-the-century men’s club in Philadelphia, this frothy gin sipper belongs to the pre-Prohibition era of classic cocktails, but has lately been revived on craft bar menus. An earlier recipe appeared in Jack’s Manual (1908), by a bartender famed for his “fancy mixed drinks.” A cousin of the Pink Lady, it needs to be dry shaken to emulsify the egg white, and the addition of raspberry syrup—Monin is a reliable ready-made brand—creates a delicate blush for a summery refreshment.

Featured in “Our New Favorite Single Malt Whisky Comes From … New York?” by Shane Mitchell.

Yield: 1

Time: 5 minutes

2 oz. Listening Rock gin
½ oz. fresh lemon juice
½ oz. raspberry simple syrup
1 large egg white
Raspberries, for garnish

Instructions

To an empty cocktail shaker, add the gin, lemon juice, raspberry simple syrup, and egg white; shake well. Add enough ice cubes to fill the shaker about halfway, and shake well again. Strain into a coupe or Nick & Nora glass, garnish with a few raspberries, and serve immediately.

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Braised Rabbit with Pan-Fried Radishes and Creamy Polenta

Eliza Glaister — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:45:00 +0000

Photography by Daniel Seung Lee; Art Direction by Kate Berry

Chef Eliza Glaister grew up in New York’s Hudson Valley, where her cooking was influenced by neighboring farmers and wild game purveyors like Quattro’s Farm. This braised rabbit recipe, served over creamy polenta and topped with pan-fried radishes and leek oil, is a summer favorite. “When preparing game with little to no fat, especially rabbit, braising it is a wonderful method,” she says. “Cooking seasonally means working with ingredients that are all growing together at the same time and place. They end up just working well together. The radish and dandelion greens add a big punch of peppery bitterness to this succulent braise.”

Featured in “Our New Favorite Single Malt Whisky Comes From … New York?” by Shane Mitchell.

Yield: 4–6

Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

For the rabbit:

1 medium leek, washed
1 whole 2½–3 lb. rabbit
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups dry white wine
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano leaves
6 fresh bay leaves, or 12 dried
6 juniper berries
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

For the vegetables:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 bunch red radishes (8–12 oz.), greens left attached, scrubbed and halved lengthwise
12 large dandelion leaves
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Kosher salt

For the grits:

2 cups whole milk, divided
½ cup fine yellow grits or polenta
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

Make the rabbit: Discard any dry or discolored green parts of the leek, then coarsely chop the remaining greens and reserve. Slice the white end into 1-inch-thick rounds and set aside. To a large Dutch oven, add the rabbit and 2 tablespoons of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat to medium and cook, turning occasionally, until golden brown on all sides, about 8 minutes total. Add the chicken stock, white wine, oregano, leek rounds, bay leaves, and juniper berries. When the liquid begins to boil, cover and turn the heat to medium-low. Simmer, rotating the rabbit halfway through cooking, until the rabbit is tender, about 1½ hours. Remove from the heat.
Meanwhile, in a food processor, purée the leek greens and remaining oil, then strain into a bowl and season with salt to taste. (Refrigerated, the sauce will keep for one month.)
Using tongs, transfer the rabbit to a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, pick the meat from the bones (discard the bones, or reserve them to make a stock) and return it to the pot. Stir in the mustard and salt and black pepper to taste, then turn the heat to low and continue to cook, uncovered, until thickened slightly, 10–15 minutes.
Make the vegetables: To a skillet set over medium-low heat, add the oil, butter, radishes, dandelion leaves, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the radishes are fork tender, 6–10 minutes. Season with salt and set aside.
Make the grits: In a medium pot, bring 1 cup of the milk and 1 cup of water to a boil. Season with salt, then turn the heat to low and add the grits. Cook, whisking continuously, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the butter and remaining milk and season with salt to taste.
To serve, scrape the grits onto a platter. Using a slotted spoon, top evenly with the braised rabbit, then spoon with the cooking liquid. Top with the vegetables, then drizzle with the leek oil and serve.

The post Braised Rabbit with Pan-Fried Radishes and Creamy Polenta appeared first on Saveur.

Baked Macaroni with Goat Cheese, Spinach, and Tomatoes

SAVEUR Editors — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:50:12 +0000

Photography by Linda Xiao; Food Styling by Jessie YuChen

This baked macaroni and cheese recipe with fresh chèvre, spinach, and tomatoes starts on the stovetop and finishes in the oven. The creamy sauce stays gooey and velvety, while the cheese sprinkled on top turns crisp and golden-brown. Elbow macaroni is an optimal vessel for the sauce, but any hollow pasta shape will work.

Yield: 4

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Kosher salt
8 oz. elbow macaroni
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 cups baby spinach
1¾ cups fresh goat cheese, divided
Freshly ground black pepper
4 medium plum tomatoes, thinly sliced

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened but still firm, about 3 minutes. Drain the macaroni and set aside.
Return the pot to medium heat, add the butter, and when it has nearly melted, whisk in the flour to make a smooth paste. Add the milk and cook, whisking frequently, until the sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the spinach and 1½ cups of goat cheese. Season the sauce to taste with salt and black pepper, then stir in the reserved macaroni. Transfer to an 8-by-8-inch baking dish, layer the tomato slices evenly over the surface, then sprinkle over the remaining goat cheese.
Place a baking sheet in the oven and set the baking dish on top. Bake until the pasta is golden-brown and bubbly, about 45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and serve hot.

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Thai Green Mango Salad (Som Tum Mamuang)

SAVEUR Editors — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:50:01 +0000

Photography by Linda Xiao; Food Styling by Jessie YuChen

A street food favorite in the night markets of Thailand, this Thai green mango salad recipe, known as som tum mamuang, is a refreshing adaptation of a more widely known version made with papaya. Usually served as an appetizer, this spicy-sweet salad makes splendid use of crunchy and tart unripe mangoes.

A fruit shredder can make quick work of slicing the mangoes. A mortar and pestle is also key for extracting flavor and fragrance from the aromatics and fruit (and is a worthwhile investment for all kinds of cooking). When making this dish, cooks in Thailand traditionally use a larger mortar than what is typically found in the U.S.

This recipe originally ran in our June/July 2010 print issue with the story “Everything Is Illuminated,” by James Oseland.

Yield: 2

Time: 25 minutes

2 Tbsp. small dried shrimp
8 red bird’s eye chiles, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ medium shallot, finely chopped
3 small, green unripe mangoes (about 1½ lbs.), peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
18 green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-in. lengths
14 grape tomatoes, halved
3 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. palm sugar or brown sugar
2 Tbsp. roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions

In a large mortar and pestle, pound the shrimp until coarsely ground; transfer to a small bowl and set aside. To the mortar, add the chiles, garlic, and shallot and pound until bruised. Working in batches, add the mangoes and pound, using a spoon to scrape the sides and combine well after each batch, until the fruit is softened slightly and fully coated in the aromatics. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and set aside.
To the mortar, add the green beans and tomatoes and lightly pound to extract their juices. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar, then transfer to the bowl with the mango mixture and toss well. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter, garnish with the crushed dried shrimp and peanuts, and serve at room temperature.

The post Thai Green Mango Salad (Som Tum Mamuang) appeared first on Saveur.

California Sandwich

Betsy Andrews — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:20:43 +0000

Photography by Linda Xiao; Food Styling by Jessie YuChen

Our classic California sandwich recipe combines a trio of fresh Golden State produce, Monterey Jack cheese, and a creamy ranch-like dressing. A version of this late-century favorite can still be found on deli-counter and sandwich-shop menus throughout California—but the feel-good meal is just as easy to layer up at home.

This recipe first appeared in our April 2011 Sandwich Issue with the story, “Golden State of Sandwiches,” by Betsy Andrews.

Yield: 2

Time: 10 minutes

¼ cup buttermilk
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. finely chopped chives
1 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley
½ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. onion powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices multigrain bread
2 slices Monterey Jack cheese
½ cup alfalfa sprouts
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
1 ripe tomato, cored and thinly sliced

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, mayonnaise, sour cream, chives, parsley, garlic powder, and onion powder. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, then spread the mixture on one side of each of the bread slices. Place a slice of cheese on two of the bread slices, then divide the sprouts, avocado, and tomato atop the cheese. Season the vegetables lightly with salt and black pepper, top with the remaining bread slices, and serve the sandwiches cold or at room temperature.

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Paloma

SAVEUR Editors — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:43:25 +0000

Photography by Julia Gartland; Food Styling by Jessie YuChen

One of Mexico’s many widely known and beloved tequila drinks, the Paloma cocktail, is a refreshing summertime highball featuring lime juice and grapefruit. Grapefruit-flavored sodas like Fresca or Squirt are common ingredients, but this version swaps in fresh juice and seltzer for a more balanced sweetness and maximum citrus flavor. For this Paloma recipe, we prefer an unoaked tequila blanco (also known as silver tequila), as opposed to tequila reposado or tequila añejo, which may be barrel-aged between two months and three years. The blanco’s clean taste and herbaceous quality make a perfect base for this drink’s sweet and sunny flavors.

Yield: 1

Time: 3 minutes

2 oz. tequila blanco
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
Pinch fine salt
3 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
3 oz. seltzer
Lime slices, for garnish

Instructions

To a highball or Collins glass, add the tequila, lime juice, and salt. Fill the glass with ice, add the grapefruit juice and seltzer, stir gently, garnish with lime slices, and serve.

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Nova Scotian Griddled Fish Cakes

Valerie Mansour — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:26:59 +0000

Hannah Whitaker

Haddock is often used for these Canadian fish cakes, though any firm white fish will do. This recipe, which has been adapted from Nova Scotia Cookery, Then and Now, creates tender cakes with golden edges. If you like, the mixture may be shaped into patties a day ahead of time and refrigerated, but for the best texture don’t roll the cakes in bread crumbs until just before frying. Green tomato chow-chow is an excellent accompaniment; find the recipe here.

This recipe is featured in “The Underexplored Roots of Black Cooking in Nova Scotia.”

Yield: 8

Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

1 small Yukon Gold potato (5 oz.), peeled
2 lb. firm white fish fillets (haddock, cod, or hake)
1 ¹⁄₂ cup bread crumbs
¹⁄₄ cup finely chopped parsley
¹⁄₄ cup finely chopped scallion
¹⁄₄ cup sour cream
¹⁄₄ tsp. cayenne pepper
Fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Green tomato chow-chow, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
To a small pot, add the potato and enough cold water to cover; bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the potato is tender when pierced with a knife, 13–15 minutes. Drain, and let cool. When the potato is cool enough to touch, coarsely mash with a fork and set aside.
Meanwhile, cook the fish: Set the fillets on the baking sheet, transfer to the oven, and roast until the fish flakes easily, about 15 minutes.
Pour the bread crumbs onto a plate and set aside. Remove the fish from the oven and cool slightly. In a large bowl, break the fish into chunks. Add the mashed potato, parsley, scallion, sour cream, and cayenne; mix well, then season to taste with fresh lemon juice, kosher salt, and black pepper. Form the mixture into eight patties, then roll each in bread crumbs.
Line a platter with paper towels and set by the stove. To a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil. Once hot, add the fish cakes in batches and cook, turning once, until golden brown and heated through, 3–4 minutes per side. Transfer the cakes to the platter and serve hot, with green tomato chow-chow, if desired.

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