Smoked Haddock & coriander fishcakes

Smoked haddock & coriander fishcakes with sauté spinach, a hen egg and a sweet red pepper sauce - this delicious recipe is a bit different from the traditional recipe which is mainly made from cod or salmon, but just as tasty.

INGREDIENTS

• 250g naturally smoked haddock
• 450g potatoes
• 30g coriander leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 150ml/¼ pint milk
• 25g butter
• Salt & pepper

BREAD CRUMBS

• 7 tablespoons of panko bread crumbs
• 50g of flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 100 ml milk

METHOD

COOKING THE HADDOCK

Place the milk & bay leaf into a frying pan and bring to the boil. Then place the haddock into the milk, if the fish has got the skin on, leave it on untill the fish has cooked as it’s a lot easier to peel off when cooked. Do not throw the milk away as you will need this in the next stage.  

FISH CAKE MIX

Peel and chop your potato’s into small chucks then place into salt water and bring to the boil (cook untill they are soft). Drain the potato’s then place them back into the pot, on a low heat let the potato steam until they are dry. Add 25g of butter, cracked black pepper and mash untill all lumps have gone. Slowly mix the haddock flavoured milk into the mix until you are happy with the texture. Add the chopped coriander leaves and the haddock (gently ripped into the mix and folded in with a wooden spoon - remember you don’t want to break the haddock up too much). Divide into equal amounts and mould into puck shapes. Place the fishcakes into the freezer to firm up as this will help when you add the breadcrumbs.  Next add the flour, egg and milk mix, and the panko into separate bowls. Add your fishcake to the flour, roll it around and then add to the egg mix again and roll it a around, finally roll it in panko, if you feel it needs more covering then repeat.

Finally heat up a pan of vegetable oil and add your fishcake, cook untill golden brown; alternatively if you have an air fryer, spray oil over the fishcake and again cook till gold brown.

Sweet red pepper sauce

I have been making this sauce since I became a chef many many years ago, so you can imagine it’s a favourite of mine.

• 1 red pepper deseeded & diced
• 250ml double cream
• 30g small diced onion
• 50ml white wine
• 15g butter
• 5g diced garlic
• Salt
• Hand blender

Melt the butter in a pan, add the diced red pepper, garlic & onion, and then gently cook untill the mix is soft. Then add the white wine, cook for 2 minutes and add the cream, cook for a further 3 minutes. Take it off the heat and blend untill the sauce is smooth. Place the sauce back on the heat if it is too thin, add salt if needed.

Poached egg & sauté spinach

Add salted water to a pot and bring to the boil, turn the heat down to a simmer and add a cap full of vinegar to the water, this will hold the egg together when poaching rather than it spreading out. Then crack the egg into the water and let it gently cook, do not over boil.

Before cooking the spinach rinse under cold water to clean, then dry off in a clean tea towel or a salad spinner. Add the spinach to a hot oiled frying pan and quickly cook for about a minute. You just want the leaves to wilt abit. Spinach contains a lot of water so make sure you squeeze this out before serving.