SALMON FISHCAKES WITH TARTARE SAUCE
A GREAT tip when making fishcakes is to add a little bit of Smash to the mix. It allows you to freeze them — and if you are going to the effort of making fishcakes, you may as well make a big batch. From one job in the kitchen, you’ve made two or three dinners. This is a great way of using up leftover mashed potatoes, although you could also use the flesh of baked potatoes, either mashed or put through a ricer.
Serves 6
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and chopped
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) salmon fillets, skin removed
Milk, for poaching the salmon
1 t bsp tomato ketchup
Tabasco, to your taste
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, to your taste
10 g (½ oz) Smash instant mashed potato
Sea salt and white pepper
300 g (10½ oz) plain flour
3 eggs, beaten
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) dried breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying
Tartare sauce (see recipe, right)
Wilted spinach, to serve
6 poached eggs, to serve
Cook the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling water until tender. Drain and set aside until they have stopped steaming. Mash.
Place the salmon fillets in a pan with enough milk to cover them, simmer and poach for three to four minutes, until half cooked. Lift out of the pan and leave to cool.
Add the tomato ketchup, tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and Smash to the mashed potatoes and mix well. Flake the fish and fold it into the mashed potatoes. Season with sea salt and white pepper.
Shape the potato mixture into balls, each weighing about 160 g (5¾ oz). roll first in the flour, then the beaten eggs, then the breadcrumbs, ensuring they are completely coated. Press each patty into a suitable round cutter (I use one that’s 8 cm in diameter) to form a flattened circle. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs again and refrigerate until ready to use.
Preheat the oven to 180c/fan 160c/gas 4 and put a baking tray in to heat. In a large saucepan, heat enough oil to come halfway up the fishcakes and fry them for two minutes on each side, or until golden. transfer to the preheated tray and bake until hot in the middle of the oven — about five minutes.
Lightly warm the tartare sauce, but don’t let it boil. Arrange the fishcakes on a serving dish on a bed of wilted spinach, and put a poached egg on top of each fishcake. Serve the tartare sauce on the side or spoon it generously over the eggs.