Really good Fish Cakes
You'll find plenty of fish cake recipes floating around. But there are good fish cakes and then there are great fish cakes! The trick is to keep the potato chunky and the fish in big flakes rather than letting it all turn into a mush. Meanwhile, adding garlic, chilli, green onion and thyme to the mix keeps these fish cakes full of flavour!
Ingredients
FISH
- ▢ 500g / 1 lb white fish fillets skinless boneless, cut into 3cm / 1.2″ pieces
- ▢ 60g / 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
- ▢ 1/4 tsp black pepper
FISH CAKES
- ▢ 800g / 1.6 lb potatoes – Sebago Aus, Russet (US), Maris Piper / King Edwards (UK) (Note 2) (makes 500g flesh)
- ▢ 2 garlic cloves finely minced
- ▢ 1/2 cup green onion finely sliced (~1 large stem)
- ▢ 2 large red chillis deseeded and finely chopped (can omit)
- ▢ 1 tbsp thyme leaves chopped
- ▢ 1 tbsp parsley finely chopped
- ▢ 3/4 tsp salt
CRUMBING AND COOKING:
- 1 cup flour
- ▢ 2 eggs lightly whisked
- ▢ 1 1/4 cups panko breadcrumbs sub ordinary breadcrumbs
- ▢ 1 cup vegetable or canola oil for frying (~ 1cm / 0.4" depth)
Instructions
BAKE POTATOES:
- Bake potatoes in a 220°C / 430°F (200°C fan) oven for 75 minutes or until they can be pierced with a knife with no resistance. Cut in half and scoop flesh out into a large bowl.
- Turn oven down to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan) – fish cakes are finished in the oven.
COOK FISH (WHILE BAKING POTATOES):
- Set a rack over a tray. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper.
- Melt butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add half the fish and cook, turning, for 4 minutes in total. It should be just cooked inside (ie. flakes easily) but not golden.
- Transfer to rack to cool. Repeat with remaining fish.
FISH CAKE MIXTURE:
- Sauté garlic: In the same skillet, add garlic, chilli ,thyme and green onion into the leftover butter. Cook for 1 minute until garlic is golden, then pour over the potato, being sure to scrape out every drop of butter!
- Roughly mash potato: Add parsley and salt, then use a wooden spoon to roughly mash the potato. Don't use a potato masher, we want some chunks, not smooth mashed potato.
- Mix in fish: Add fish then gently stir through, breaking it up a bit so you have some nice flakes mixed throughout the potato. Don't mash the fish up too enthusiastically – we want fish chunks!
- Form fish cakes: Scoop out 1/4 cup of mixture. Pack it in firmly, pop out onto hand and shape firmly into a 1.75cm / 2/3" thick cake. The potato will make it hold together, if you press firmly. You should make 13 to 15.
CRUMB AND COOK
- Crumb: Coat in flour (shake off excess), dip in egg (let excess drip off) then coat in breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere.
- Pan fry 3 minutes: Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Cook fish cakes in batches for 1 1/2 minutes on each side until golden, then transfer to a paper towel-lined tray. If you're pedantic like me, stand them on their side and roll slowly to cook and make the sides golden too.
- Bake 10 minutes: Remove paper towel from under the fish cakes. Bake for 10 minutes (this heats all the fish cakes all the way through into the middle + reheats the first batch cooked).
- Serve with lemon wedges, tartare sauce, plain mayonnaise (Kewpie!), sour cream, ketchup or tomato sauce.
Notes
This recipe is sponsored by Mediterranean Supermarket