Valentine Warner’s smoked trout fish cakes
You will need:
200g hot smoked trout, any bones removed
300g King Edward potatoes, peeled and chopped into pieces
3 tbps finely chopped curly parsley
1/2 tsp salt
Good grind of black pepper
2 tbsps sifted plain flour
Approximately 100g white breadcrumbs
50g butter
Splash of sunflower oil
For the sauce
2 tbsps mayonnaise
1 tbsps crème fraiche
Grated zest of half a small unwaxed lemon
2 tbsps finely chopped walnuts
2 good tsps grated horseradish (not sauce) from a jar or 4 from fresh root
Method:
1. Set oven to 200°C / gas mark 7.
2. Put the potatoes in a pan and cover them with cold water. Bring them up to the boil cooking for 10-15 minutes or until totally softened - a little overcooking is in fact good. Drain and allow to stand until cool and dry.
3. After having chopped the walnuts, gently toast them in a dry pan swirling them continuously, taking care not to burn, until they turn a shade or two darker and have a lovely toasted smell and then allow to cool. Combine all the other sauce ingredients, stir in the walnuts and leave to one side until fishcakes are ready.
4. Flake the trout into pieces into a bowl; add the chopped parsley, a good grind of black pepper. Add the potatoes, breaking them up as you add them to the trout. Combine everything well and season with a little salt to taste.
5. Fashion the cakes into a pastry cutter mould of approximately six to seven centimetres. When forming the cakes they will need a little pressing and compacting to prevent them falling apart.
6. Put the flour on a plate, the breadcrumbs on another and beat the two eggs in a bowl. Flour both the flat sides of each fishcake, do not flour the edges. Now very carefully dip the floured sides in the egg and then lastly in the breadcrumbs, repeat until all cakes are made.
7. Put a small frying pan on the hob and melt 50 grams of butter combined with a splash of sunflower oil. The cake should sizzle immediately when it enters the pan. However do not cook them too fast and burn the breadcrumbs; regulate the heat accordingly. Sauté the fishcakes for four minutes or so until a deep golden colour, turn over and fry for two minutes, then put the cakes in the oven for six minutes.
8. Serve with watercress and the sauce.
Recipe: Valentine Warner for British Trout Association
Click here to go to the original article on Red Online
Click here to see Valentine Warner’s trout & Pernod pie
Click here to see Valentine Warner’s steamed trout with ginger and enoki mushrooms
Click here to see Puttanesca sauce
