Better than old school dinners
Smoked haddock fish cakes with grain mustard sauce
‘Polpette di ricciola’ in Italian or ‘Croquette de poisson’ in French sound quite exotic compared to ‘fish cakes’ in my native tongue.
Fish cakes bring back memories of bad school dinners. Not a culinary delight in my memory but these lovely fish cakes are fantastic as a simple starter or as a main course. Ingredients, serves 4 as a starter 220g mash potato; 150g natural smoked haddock cut into cubes; dessert spoon chopped chives; 2 shallots finely chopped; 1 egg yolk; seasoning; flour for coating; 1 egg and 75ml milk whisked together; bread crumbs for the sauce; 1 onion finely chopped; 100ml w hite wine; 100ml fish stock; 200ml double cream; dessert spoon grain mustard; dessert spoon chopped chives
Method
1 Cook the shallots in a little butter without colouring for 3 minutes, allow to cool and add to the mash.
2. Mix in the diced fish chives and egg yolk. Season.
3. Shape into 4 sausage shapes and dust with the flour.
4. Dip into the egg and milk mixture and then roll in the bread crumbs.
Put into a fridge while you make the sauce.
5. To make the sauce heat a saucepan and cook the onion in a little butter for 3 minutes.
6. Add the white white and stock and reduce by half before adding the cream.
7. Simmer gently until the sauce thickens slightly.
8. Pass through a sieve into another pan and whisk in the mustard. Add the chives just before serving.
9. Deep fry the fish cakes in oil heated to 180c until golden brown and cooked through (about 4 minutes).
10. Spoon the sauce into bowls and top with the fish cakes.
Lawrence’s