A Cook's Plot

Fish & Shellfish

Best-ever tuna fishcakes

Delicious and super-easy

Whenever I see fishcakes on a restaurant menu, I always order them. But so often I’m disappointed. They can be pappy and tasteless - not these, though. They’re made with lemon and dill (which I grew in the garden last year, chopping up what was left at the end of the season and putting it in the freezer for recipes like this). The trick is then to get the oil really hot to start the fishcakes off and make them crispy, then turn it down a little so they cook right through. Sprinkling them with sumac (a lovely, lemony spice) or, failing that, cayenne, gives them just the extra kick they need - and be sure to squeeze over a little lemon juice before tucking in, too.

Ingredients

Serves 6

  • 3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • splash of milk
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 small tin tuna flakes
  • 3 spring onions, sliced
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • handful of dill, chopped
  • pinch chilli flakes
  • 2 egg, beaten (in separate bowls)
  • 100g breadcrumbs
  • oil for shallow frying
  • sumac or cayenne pepper, for sprinkling
  • 1 lemon

Method

Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, then mash with a little milk and the mustard. Stir in the tuna, spring onions, lemon zest, dill and chilli, then stir in one egg. Pour the other egg onto a plate, and put the breadcrumbs on another plate. Take a small handful of the tuna mixture and press into a disc, then dip first in egg then in breadcrumbs. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the fishcakes in batches for about 4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Serve with wedges of lemon.

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