How to Cook Fish Cakes With Tartar Sauce
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Ingredients needed to make Fish Cakes With Tartar Sauce:
For the fish cake:
- 450 gms cod or haddock fillet
- 350 gm potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks
- 1 tbsp chives, snipped
- 150 ml milk
- 1 tbsp fresh white parsley, chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ tsp lemon zest, finely grated
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying
- All purpose flour, as required
- 85 white breadcrumbs
- Lemon wedges, for serving
For the sauce:
- 150 ml mayonnaise
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp creamed horseradish
- 1 small shallot, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp capers, coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Cooking instructions for Fish Cakes With Tartar Sauce:
- Whisk all the ingredients of the sauce together in a small bowl until well combined and set aside,
- Arrange the fish fillets in a skillet and drop the bay leaves in it.
- Pour in ¼ pint water, along with the milk and put a lid on to heat the mixture until it starts boiling.
- Reduce it to a simmer over slow heat and cook likewise for about 4 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and set aside for about 10 minutes to let the fish cook in its own steam.
- Boil the potatoes in a saucepan of salted water and reduce it to a simmer.
- Continue to cook them for about 10 minutes or until they soften but doesn’t crumble on touch.
- Drain the fish out of the milk, using a slotted spoon, into a plate; set aside to cool.
- Tip the potatoes into a colander to drain and set aside for a couple of minutes.
- Return the drained potatoes back to the pan and cook them at slowest heat for a minute, while mashing them with a potato masher and whisking it gently at the same time until they firm a dry, light and fluffy mash.
- Remove from heat and stir in 1 tsp of the prepared sauce, chives, parsley and lemon zest until they are distributed uniformly throughout the mash.
- Adjust the seasonings and set aside until necessary.
- Crumble the fish into the mashed potatoes and sprinkle some pepper over the mixture.
- Toss them together to mix well and set aside to cool.
- Whisk the egg in a large shallow plate and dust a working surface lightly with flour.
- Sprinkle the breadcrumbs across a baking sheet and set aside.
- Split the fish-potato blend into four portions and shape each of them into a cake of about 2.5 cm in thickness.
- Dip each cake into the whisked egg so that is thoroughly coated and transfer it to a plate with breadcrumbs.
- Flip it over to coat well with the crumbs on either side and press the crumbs gently to make it stick to the cakes.
- Arrange them on a plate, cover and chill it in the fridge for half an hour.
- Drizzle oil in a large skillet and heat it until a breadcrumb sizzles when dropped into it.
- Dip the fish cakes in batches, and fry each side for about 5 minutes, over moderate heat, until they turn crispy golden brown.
- Arrange them on serving plates and serve along with a bowl of remaining sauce and lemon wedges by the side.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
