1 hr plus cooling and chilling time
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
About the recipe
Making your own fish cakes is so quick and easy – these ones taste great with tuna, too.
Ingredients
300g potatoes
100g salmon fillet, skin on, scaled, pin-boned, from sustainable sources
olive oil
a few sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 lemon
Top Tip
This recipe is so tasty that it’s a really good idea to double or triple the quantities and freeze batches for another day – just make sure you defrost them thoroughly before using, then follow the cooking instructions below.
Method
- Peel the potatoes, cut into 2cm chunks, and cook in boiling salted water for 10 minutes (or use baked potatoes – scoop out the potato and discard the skin).
- Rub the salmon fillet all over with 1 teaspoon of oil and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then place in a colander and cover with tin foil.
- When the time's up on the potatoes, place colander directly over the pan of boiling potatoes. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the salmon and potatoes are both cooked through.
- Meanwhile, pick and finely chop the parsley leaves, discarding the stalks.
- Once cooked, remove the fish from the colander to a plate, and discard the skin. Drain the potatoes, and leave to steam dry for 1 minute, then tip back into the pan.
- Mash the potatoes, spreading the mash round the sides of the pan to help it cool down quickly. When the potatoes are cooled, transfer to a bowl.
- Flake the salmon into the bowl, add 1 tablespoon of flour, the chopped parsley and a really good pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Finely grate over the lemon zest, then mash and mix together really well.
- Dust a plate with a little flour. Divide the mixture into 4, then lightly shape and pat into circles about 2cm thick, dusting them with flour as you go. Put them onto a clean plate also dusted with a little flour. If you're going to freeze them, wrap them in clingfilm at this point and put them into the freezer. Otherwise simply pop them into the fridge for an hour before cooking – this will allow them to firm up slightly.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the fishcakes and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until crisp and golden – you may need to work in batches.
- Serve straight away, with veg or salad and lemon wedges for squeezing over.
- Use a mixture of regular and sweet potatoes.
- Any white fish would work brilliantly here. You can also use frozen fish fillets, simply defrost first to remove any excess liquid (and only freeze the fishcakes once cooked).
- A handful of prawns or defrosted crushed peas thrown into the mix would be delicious, too.
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