On the Menu :: Fishcakes

Smoked mackerel and sweet potato fishcakes :: yes its an on-the-menu day today.

Tuesday seems to be a good day to talk about food. By Tuesday I'm generally over the slacking of the weekend and have a menu plan chalked up for the week, with a full compliment of food in the fridge and cupboards to back up the aforementioned menu plan.
This was on the menu Tuesday of last week, and is a firm favourite around here.
We have smoked mackerel usually once a week. Its a wonderful staple food :: cheap, tasty, extremely nutritious and versatile. If I'm not making it into fishcakes, we have it as it comes (cold with a robust salad), in a kedgeree, or sometimes mixed with tuna and a cheese sauce into a pasta bake.

I'm particularly chuffed to be passing this recipe on to you because it's one of my very own. YEs, it really is! An Attic24 exclusive no less. Devised by yours truly. And as with most of my favourite recipes, it's easy, tasty, LP-friendly, and only six ingredients to worry about, one of which is growing in a pot outside the back door.

So first off you take the above four ingredients (1 slice wholemeal bread, 1 clove of garlic, juice of half a lemon and a handful of parsley) and whizz them together until you get fine, fragrant, zesty, herby breadcrumbs, as below. Have a good sniff, appreciate the thorough herbiness and zestiness.

Next you will need two smoked mackerel fillets and two medium sweet potatoes. Flake the smoked mackerel into a bowl along with the breadcrumb mixture.

Peel and finely dice the potato and cook until soft (I steam them in the microwave). Marvel at the colour, its the best kind of orangey orange. Give the potato a good mashing with a fork, then season well and add to the fish/crumb mixture.

Now you need to roll your sleeves up and get weighed in with your hands. It's squishing time. Trust me on this one, Squishing is the best method, you want everything combined thoroughly and hands/fingers are the perfect tool. Get stuck in, enjoy the muckiness of it!

To make the fishcakes. take small handfuls of the squished mixture and form it into neat patties in the palm of your hand. I can usually get about 10 smallish cakes from these ingredients which serves us just right (3 each for Big People and 2 each for Little People).
At this point, it helps to put the fishcakes in the fridge for 30min to firm up. This way you prevent them from mushing into a big heap in the frying pan in the manner of potato hash, which causes severe hissy fit.
So once they have chilled, heat a glug of oil in a non stick frying pan and gently fry the cakes for 3 mins or so on each side, or until they turn golden brown. Take care when flipping them over, they are quite soft and you do want to avoid it all going horribly wrong at this point.

To serve, I like to provide a selection of dolloppy dipping sauces.
This usually consists of tomato ketchup, a sweet chilli sauce, and then some sort of fresh creamy dip too. I make the creamy dip according to whats in the fridge :: sometimes it'll be a simple mix of greek yoghurt with a  squeeze of lemon juice, or in this case it was a mix of cream cheese and tartare sauce with snipped fresh chives.

Then you need to provide a big pile of crudites to dip in the dolloppy dipping sauces. (cucumber, carrot and red/yellow pepper sticks). The idea is that the Little People are permitted to eat this whole meal with their fingers, dunking everything in the three dollopy dips. It delights them to eat this way. It tastes better this way. And of course there are always an abundance of pretty paper napkins to wipe fingers off afterwards.

Comments

[simone]

A glug of oil, dollopy dipping sauces - Jamie Oliver eat your heart out because you have competition! These sound like fun to make and easy too. I like the addition of sweet potato as it gives the dish a modern twist!

[Ali]

Those look extremely tasty. I have yet to get mackerel past the kids radar, but those look worthy of a try.

[Marisa]

That looks and sounds tasty, must try that out with my lot. It's so hard to think of interesting and economical meals for the family that everyone will like, and preferbly that you enjoy cooking - not one of my favourite jobs i must say, i love the notion of been a great cook, but there it stops I'm afraid are any of you other readers like that or is it just me!!!

[Natalie]

Thank you for this recipe Lucy - It sounds lovely, and I am a big fan of sweet potato. I will definitely be giving it a try - Natalie x

[Jennifer]

i had to stop hiding for this one, and thought id post a reply to you!

mmmmmmm lucy, i LOVE your recipes!...am gonna make that this week!

thanks!

Jennifer x

[sarah]

Thanks Lucy it sounds yummy and healthy too going to try this on my little people they loved your tarts!
Sarah

[French Knots]

Can I come for tea please??

[Anna]

Thanks for that Luce, you are really helping me build my repertoire of weekly dinner recipes! I have just printed that one off to add to the feta frittata thingummy.
What's tomorrow.....?x

[Sarah]

oh my GOD these sound delicious!!! I am going to try these very very soon. There is a nice butternut squash recipe on my blog that you might appreciate - it too has about 6 ingredients, is fast, tasty and a recipe all of my own device. and well done for getting your children to eat fish and a strong tasting one at that - most people I know struggle with this one!

[emma]

Helloo! Thank you for all your lovely comments and intense reading of my blog! Thanks for the mention in your blog - it was very kind. Life is tres busy at the moment so this is brief - love the fish cake recipe. Pasha was reading over my shoulder and has already said we have got to make them! I really loved your stripey bag by the way - very gorgeous. I cant blog for the next few days but hopefully will do a catch up at the weekend with some nice photos! Have a great week - boo to the weather but you sound like me in that it doesnt stop you going out! Lots of love Emma x

[Jen]

Lucy, your photos get better and better and I'm loving your recipes! BUT, what d'you think I should substitute for the mackerel since we don't have it (at least my supermarket doesn't) here in the states. Smoked trout maybe? I wish the "cheap" moniker was true here--smoked fish in general is pretty pricey. Anyhoo, I'm going to try these!

[Kali]

Sounds and looks delicious.
I will be making this soon!

[Rosepetaljam]

hiya

well I tried to make them but tescos had run out of sweet potatoes so I used white potatoes. I also added cheese (grated cheddar) and a dollop of grain mustard. and I didn't have any bread for the breadcrumbs either, oh dear! but they were delicious and the mackerel was a really good choice for fishcakes Lucy, very nice indeed! The lemon and parsley were also wonderful. I erved mine with herb salad, roasted cherry toms and a creme fraiche thing with lime juice and pepper mixed in, yum! I recommend the addition of cheese!

Jen - smoked trout would be wonderful!

Love S x