Ideal for a speedy dinner, these smoked haddock & herb fish cakes with quick hollandaise are ready in no time
Yes, bought mashed potatoes. They’re a great shortcut for binding the fish, and make this so quick, with no need to boil or peel potatoes.
You could also buy the hollandaise to make it even easier, but this method is really simple, and making it yourself will mean it tastes so much nicer. If I told you to buy everything, it wouldn’t be cooking, would it?
Ingredients
For the fish cakes:
• 300g undyed smoked haddock
• 1 small bunch fresh chives
• 200g ready-made mashed potatoes
• 25g plain flour
• 50ml vegetable oil
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• green salad leaves, to serve (optional)
For the hollandaise:
• 4 egg yolks
• 200ml melted clarified butter
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons white wine vinegar
Method
1 Cut the smoked haddock into small dice. Finely chop the chives.
In a bowl, gently fold together the smoked haddock, mashed potato and chives and season with salt and pepper. Shape into 4 rounds and dust with flour.
2 Heat the oil over a medium-low heat in a large, deep frying pan and cook for 3–4 minutes on each side.
3 While the fish cakes are cooking, place the egg yolks in a food processor and drizzle in the butter slowly so that the sauce thickens.
4 Finish with the lemon juice and vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
5 Serve immediately with the fish cakes, with some salad leaves alongside, if you like.
Recipe courtesy of James Martin, extracted from Fast Cooking. Photography by Tara Fisher © Quadrille Publishing.
