Recipe: Fish cakes with parsley sauce

Makes 4 large or 8 small fish cakes

Ingredients

Fish cakes

• 1kg (2lbs) smoked haddock, skinned and boned (4 medium fillets)
• 1 litre (1¾ pints) whole milk
• 4 Maris Piper potatoes, peeled, quartered and boiled
• 2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 600 ml (1 pint) milk
• 100g (3½oz) plain flour
• 300g (10½oz) breadcrumbs
• vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

Sauce

• 70g (2½oz) butter
• 30g (1oz) plain flour
• 600ml (1 pint) milk from poaching
• 1 tsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

To serve

• 4 eggs

Method

Fish cakes

1. Place the haddock in a frying pan and cover with milk. Bring slowly to the boil and then remove from the heat.
2. Lift the fish from the milk using a slotted fish slice. Reserve the poaching milk in the pan.
3. Break the fish into natural flakes and put in a mixing bowl.
4. Push the boiled potatoes through a potato ricer or sieve, into the mixing bowl.
5. Add the parsley, salt and pepper to taste and combine the ingredients gently.
6. Using a deep pastry cutter, form the mix into 4 large or 8 small cakes.
7. Chill cakes in the fridge.

Sauce

1. In a small bowl, mix the butter and flour together using a wooden spoon.
2. Put the poaching milk back on the heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Crumble the butter and flour mix into the milk and stir into a thick sauce.
3. Stir in the chopped parsley, seasoning to taste.

To cook the fish cakes

1. Break the eggs into a bowl with the milk and beat lightly.
2. Sprinkle the flour and the breadcrumbs on to separate plates.
3. Coat each cake first with egg, then with flour and lastly with the breadcrumbs.
4. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and gently shallow fry the fish cakes for 10 minutes on either side, until golden brown and cooked through.

To serve

1. Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the eggs.
2. Spoon a pool of sauce onto the plate, place one large or two small fishcakes on top and then place a fried egg on top of each fishcake.