Italian fishcakes with parsley sauce
I recently got a craving for fishcakes one evening while watching TV. I can easily binge on food shows, especially a good cooking competition. I’ve watched them all; Masterchef, GBBO, British best menu and even those on random tv channels.
My recent new obsession is ‘Britains Best Home Cook’ with the nation’s favourite Mary Berry, Michelin star chef Angela Hartnett, fruit and veg geezer, Chris Bavin, and presented by my favourite orange tv celebrity Claudia Winkleman.
I would LOVE to be on this show, but I’m not sure I would qualify as a home cook anymore. BOOOO!
Mary and Chris set the contestants 2 separate challenges, where they have to cook two dishes. However, if their cooking isn’t up to scratch, they have to go into the eliminator.
Angela then sets them a technical dish where things start to get sweaty and stressful. Eventually, someone ends up getting kicked out. It’s great TV!!
Anyway, in the first episode, those in the eliminator had to make Angela’s fish cakes, and for some strange reason, I started to crave them. I do love anything with a batter or crust. So, in true TTI style, I ‘pimped’ mine up Italian style and came up with this deliciously easy recipe. By adding capers, lemon zest and plenty of parsley, I gave them a Mediterranean flavour. Plus, by creating mini versions made them even cuter to eat. Enjoy!!
PrintItalian-style fishcakes with parsley sauce
- 175g cod, skinless
- 220g white potato, peeled and cut in equally sized chunks
- 350ml whole milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 10g fresh parsley, rougly chopped
- 1 tbsp capers, rougly chopped
- 1/4 lemon, zest
- 1 egg, beaten.
- 50g panko breadcrumbs
- 4 tbsp flour
- 3 tbsp olive oil or Vegetable oil
- 15g butter
- Sea salt
- Ground black pepper
ITALIAN-STYLE FISHCAKES WITH PARSLEY SAUCE
- First, let’s cook the potatoes. PLACE them in a saucepan, COVER with cold water, SEASON with sea salt and bring to the BOIL. SIMMER until soft. DRAIN the potatoes and MASH. Taste and SEASON with salt and pepper.
- Next, we cook the fish. PLACE the cod in a large saucepan, POUR in the milk and ADD the bay leaf. COVER with a lid and bring to the BOIL. As soon as the milk is boiling, REMOVE the pan off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then, lift the fish out the milk carefully, let it COOL DOWN and then FLAKE off into chunks. Keep the milk for the parsley sauce later.
- PREHEAT the oven to 200c
- Next, ADD the mashed potato in a bowl and MIX in the capers, lemon zest and parsley. Then MIX in the fish, making sure you don’t break it up too much. SEASON with salt and pepper.
- Divide the mixture into 6 mini patties.
- Place 3 tbsp flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs in separate bowls. COAT the fishcakes first in flour, followed by beaten egg and then coat in the breadcrumbs.
- HEAT the oil in a frying pan, and on medium heat, FRY the fish cakes on 2/3 minutes on each side until slightly golden. Then finish cooking them in the oven for 6/8 minutes.
- In the meantime, make the parsley sauce, by MELTING the butter in a saucepan, ADD 1 tbsp flour and STIR until well combined. Slowly POUR in the reserved poached fish milk. Bring to the boil, SIMMER and COOK for 2 minutes. REMOVE off the heat and MIX in the parsley. SEASON with salt and pepper.
- To serve, place the fish cakes on warmed plates, served with the parsley sauce and lemon slice. These fish cakes are great with some garlic, chilli wilted spinach.
