Smoked fish cakes with lemon caper mayo
These smoked fish cakes are a cinch to make, and so versatile – use any smoked fish (or salmon), and either potato or kumara. They’re a great way to use up leftover mash from dinner the night before. Topped with a poached egg and a fresh salad on the side, they make a great brunch or lunch.
Ingredients
- 500 g potato or kumara peeled and chopped (or 2-2 ½ cups leftover mashed potato or kumara)
- 200 g smoked fish flaked (or other smoked fish)
- 2-3 spring onions finely sliced
- 3-4 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
- 2 free-range egg
- lemon zest of one
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 2-3 tablespoons flour plain, gluten-free, or rice flour
- 2 tablespoons oil
To serve
- 4 poached free-range eggs optional
- 4 handfuls watercress or baby rocket
- 1 lemon cut into wedges
Lemon caper mayo
- ¼ cup good quality mayonaisse
- 2-3 tablespoons natural unsweetened Greek yoghurt
- 1-2 tablespoons capers chopped
- lemon zest and juice of ½
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 50°C. Cook potato/kumara in a saucepan of boiling water until soft, 12-15 minutes. Drain well, return to the pan and place back onto low heat for a few minutes – this will help the potato/kumara dry out a bit. Mash roughly, then mix well with salmon, spring onion, parsley, egg, lemon zest and salt and pepper.
- Scoop out 1/3 cup portions of fishcake mixture and shape into patties. Carefully dust each patty in flour.
- Heat a good drizzle of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Cook fishcakes in batches for about 3 minutes each side until golden brown. Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel in between batches and add a little more oil as needed. Keep fishcakes warm in the oven as you cook them.
- Mix all lemon caper mayo ingredients together.
- To serve: place 2-3 fishcakes on each plate and top with a poached egg (if desired). Serve with watercress or rocket, a dollop of lemon caper mayo, and a lemon wedge on the side.
- Tip – If cooking the potato/kumara from scratch, don’t skip the step of drying the it out over a low heat – this will ensure the mixture is not too wet. Once you’ve cooked the fishcakes, you can freeze them (they will keep for a couple of months). Then just defrost and reheat in the oven until hot through for a convenient meal.
Notes
This would make a great brunch if you had people coming over – you could have the fish cakes prepared and ready to fry off, or even have them pre-cooked and keeping warm in the oven until you’re ready to serve. You can use any smoked fish (or salmon). This is also a great way to use up leftover cooked potato or kumara.
If you would like some tips on how to perfectly poach eggs, check out this video for some tips.