Fishcakes are a lovely light dish for the Spring and can be either starter or main course size. Making your own fishcakes can be a bit messy, but we like getting our hands in and as long as you are organised you can keep the mess to a minimum. What you need is some ready cooked salmon, mashed potatoes and some finely chopped spring onions and either fresh parsley or dill, simply mix it all together in a bowl and then create into fishcake shapes. You can choose whatever shape you like but we have done the classic cound shape.
Get your coating bowls ready first. You will need three bowls and two plates. In the bowls put flour in the first, an egg lightly beaten in the second and breadcrumbs in the third. Put a plate at the beginning and end so that you have a plate for your uncoated fishcakes and one for the coated fishcakes. It is easier if you do each process separately but we stopped to take photos of the whole process as can be seen here.
Fishcake making – the whole process
Here is a picture guide to help you create your own.
First coat your fishcake in flour
Coating in flour helps protect the fish and makes it easier for the egg to stick. Lightly beat an egg in a bowl then cover the fishcake in the egg so that the breadcrumbs will stick.
Second coat your fishcake in egg
Finally, put the fishcake into the breadcrumbs. You can make your own breadcrumbs by whizzing up some bread in a food processor or blender or you can buy some. A favourite with many celebrity chefs at the moment seems to be Japanese Panko breadcrumbs and we had bought some when we went to Chinatown with our nephew last year so that is what we used.
Next cover with breadcrumbs
The fishcakes will cook better and will be less likely to break up if they are chilled for a little while in the fridge. Then put a little oil in a frying pan and cook on both sides till they are lightly golden, about 4-5 minutes each side. Don’t have the heat too hot or they may not cook all the way through properly.
Gently cook in a little oil
We served ours with a tomato salsa which was simply a few tomatoes diced, some diced shallot, garlic and chilli and some freshly chopped parsley mixed with a little extra virgin olive oil.
Fishcakes and Salsa