Serves 4
Preparation time 1.5hrs (includes refrigeration & resting)
Cooking time 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS FOR FISH CAKE
A mix of hot smoked kingfish fillet, ocean trout fillet and snapper all with skin and pinbones removed, 150g of each.
Or 450g of a dark or oil rich fish like salmon or ocean trout.
750ml (3 cups) full cream milk
450g Sebago potatoes, peeled & cut into chunks
2 tsp mustard powder
1 brown onion finely diced
3 spring onions finely sliced
¼ bunch dill, leaves picked, roughly chopped
¼ bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked, roughly chopped
Salt flakes & freshly ground black pepper
150g (1 cup) plain flour
4 eggs
140g (2 cups) fresh breadcrumbs
4 tbsp clarified butter or 1 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil
lemon wedges and tartare sauce to serve
METHOD
1 Place the fish fillets in a saucepan with 500ml (2 cups) of the milk and poach gently for about 5 minutes or until cooked. Remove from the heat and leave the fish to cool slightly in the poaching liquid, then drain.
2 Boil the potatoes until tender then drain and mash until smooth. While these are boiling, sauté off your diced onion in the butter until transparent. While still hot, mix the fish, mustard powder, onion, spring onion and chopped herbs and season to taste with salt & pepper. Try to keep the fish in nice flakes for texture, and don’t over work it with the potato or it will be like eating hairy mash potato!
Press the mixture into a baking dish to form a 3cm thick layer and chill in the fridge for at least one hour to firm up.
3 Cut the chilled fish cake mixture into four patties using a large round cutter. Season the flour with salt and place in a shallow bowl. Whisk the eggs with the remaining 250ml cup of milk and place in another shallow bowl. Tip the breadcrumbs into another shallow bowl. Gently toss the fish cakes in the flour to give an even dusting, then dunk them into the egg mixture until completely coated. Finally, press the fish cake into the breadcrumbs, reshaping them neatly with a palette knife as you go.
4 Heat the clarified butter or butter/oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and cook the fish cakes until they are golden brown and crisp on both sides and warmed through. Take care to keep the crumbs in place as you turn them. Remove and drain on paper towel.
5 Serve with lemon wedges and a small bowl of tartare sauce on the side.
The Carousel thanks Mike McEnearney who created this recipe for Australian Onions’ Secret Serve campaign
