Potato Cakes with Smoked Haddock and a Pickled Cucumber Salad from Rosie Lovell, author of Supper with Rosie (£16.99, Kyle Books)
Potato cakes are one of my dad’s staple snacks. This is mostly due to his stern and Edwardian dislike of waste. You can always do something with a little leftover mashed or boiled potato. Or if you don’t have leftover potatoes, then it is easy to boil up a batch for this recipe. I have used polenta, which gives a far superior crust to the usual breadcrumb coating here too. The pickled cucumber salad is a must as it brings the whole meal zinging to life and is incredibly easy to prepare.
Serves 3
1 cucumber, peeled and finely sliced
200ml white balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 red chilli, sliced in half
60g golden caster sugar
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
a pinch of sea salt
450g floury potatoes, such as Désirée, peeled or 450g leftover mashed potato
450g skinless smoked haddock
150ml whole milk
1 bay leaf, crushed
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
a pinch of sea salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 egg, beaten
150g fine polenta
100ml vegetable oil
First make the salad. Lay the sliced cucumber in a shallow dish. Combine the vinegar, chilli, sugar, mustard seeds and salt in a small saucepan. Place on a high heat until the sugar has dissolved and the vinegar has reduced by one-third. Pour immediately over the cucumber and set aside to infuse for a couple of hours. When you are ready to serve, drain off most of the pickle, leaving just enough to coat.
To make the potato cakes, place the potatoes in a pan of water on a high heat and boil until soft. Drain thoroughly and roughly mash with a fork. Set aside. Meanwhile, place the haddock in a wide frying pan and pour over the milk. Add the crushed bay leaf and fenugreek seeds. Place the pan on a low heat and simmer gently for about 5 minutes until the fish is just cooked and beginning to flake. Using a slotted spoon, remove the fish to a plate and leave to cool. To make the fishcakes, combine the cooled potato with the haddock in a bowl. Season and add the lemon zest and egg and combine thoroughly.
Scatter the polenta onto a plate ready for coating the fishcakes and have another clean plate to hand. Shape the mixture into 9 cakes with your hands, roll in the polenta and then transfer them to the clean plate. Heat the oil in a large, wide frying pan over a high heat. When it is quivering hot, turn down the heat to medium and gently place the cakes in the pan. You may need to cook them in batches. Fry until they are crisp and golden on the first side before turning them over and cooking them on the other side. Drain on kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil and serve with the cucumber salad.
*It may seem like I have stipulated quite a lot of oil for frying but you want to shallow-fry these for the ultimate crispy shell and creamy insides.
