Fishcakes

The perfect fish cake

For some reason I always make fishcakes in the summer and very rarely in the winter even though I love them! Simple ingredients, good seasoning and good fish and you can’t go wrong. Serve with aioli (garlic mayonnaise) and a salad is a perfect midweek meal. It is a family favourite and I often serve it with potato wedges or sweet potato wedges for very hungry eaters! 

Makes 4 large or 8 small fishcakes

Ingredients
650g white fish, cod, haddock or you could use salmon, skinned and boned
1 litre fish stock – I use a good quality fish stock cube

450g potatoes- you need a fluffy potato for this. 

50g butter
Salt and pepper
Grated zest of 3 lemons

6 tblsp dried breadcrumbs

2 tblsp parsley

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

1. Peel and chop the potatoes into rough chunks and bring to the boil in salted water and cook until they are just soft through. Drain through a colander and mash with butter and season with salt and pepper.
2. In the meantime, in a separate saucepan bring the stock to the boil, add the skinned and boned fish, cover with a lid and turn off the heat. After five minutes turn the fish over in the stock and replace the lid for another five minutes or until the fish is just cooked through.
3. Drain the fish through a sieve and flake it into large pieces. Mix the drained fish with the mashed potatoes, along with the zest of 2 lemons. Check the seasoning and mix well, trying not to break up the fish too much.
4. Divide the mixture into four or eight and shape into cakes, pressing them firmly together.
5. Combine the breadcrumbs with the remaining lemon zest and parsley. Dip each fishcake, first in the flour, then in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs.
6. To cook, heat a frying pan to medium, add enough oil just to coat the bottom of the pan and add in the fish cakes and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until nicely golden. Transfer to a pre-heated oven 200C/gas mark 6 for 10 minutes.
7. Serve straight away, with wedges, salad, aioli, and lemon wedges for squeezing over.