tuna croquettes and purple cabbage slaw

OK, so these are loosely (and I mean very loosely) based on a salmon croquettes recipe from my grandma's church ladies' group cookbook, Cooking in Circles, published in Orlando in 1972 (second edition 1989). I started making these back in college when I was doing student teaching and living in an apartment with my roommate ("MSA" - married student apartments, though that was B.S. - before Stephen). That was the same kitchen where I killed my first (and only) mouse with peanut butter on a trap (hey, it was getting into my Mexican cornbread mix - whaddya expect? - nobody messes with my cornbread). (Oh gosh, and I just had flashbacks of doing some mountain driving one evening to go see a sunset and my sweet roommate in the passenger seat couldn't hold down her salmon croquettes. Poor dear. But don't let that stop you from making these. See, these puppies are made from tuna and the ones she ate had salmon. It's an entirely different kettle of fish.)

So I've made these with salmon, mackerel, or tuna, and since the latter's the least expensive, that's how I do it recently - and they're pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

Serve with purple cabbage/apple slaw for a nice crunchy-tangy accompaniment.

For the tuna cakes you'll need:

• canned tuna (of course)
• flour
• beaten egg
• panko (or cornmeal)
• grated carrots
• finely diced onion
• minced garlic
• salt and pepper

Do this:

Saute your carrots, onion, and garlic in a little bit of oil and allow to cool a bit. In a big bowl, mix the tuna, enough flour to meld everything together, beaten egg, salt and pepper, and the sauteed veggies. If you're using cornmeal to coat these babies, just go ahead and shape your patties, then roll each one in cornmeal. Or if like me, you don't have any cornmeal on hand anymore but you do have panko, then just dip each patty in some beaten egg, then roll in panko and fry them all up in a pan with a thin layer of oil.

Or you can bake them if you're feeling healthy today.

I wasn't.

But then, I'm breastfeeding and I need extra calories.

(That's my excuse, anyway.)

These are great with cornbread on the side (again, you'll need cornmeal for that, won't you), and little ketchup smiley faces on the croquettes don't hurt either. Wish I'd thought of that.