Seafood Made Simple: How to make fish cakes with mustard sauce
Aishling Moore's fish cakes with mustard sauce. Picture Chani Anderson.
“Once you know the rules, you can break the rules”: this has always been my learned approach to cooking.
Schooled in the dark art of the rule-laden classical French cookery, you’re taught techniques that have multiple applications.
For instance, once you’ve mastered the five mother sauces, hollandaise, tomato, espagnole, bechamel and velouté, you’ve unlocked a whole repertoire of sauces. Béarnaise, by way of hollandaise, is just one example of the many.
When it comes to cooking, some of the rules we are fed are false. So, I’d like to debunk the ones that annoy me most!
No amount of browning protein will seal in its juices.
The reason we brown foods is to develop flavour by way of the Maillard reaction.
If you want to retain juices in meat, adequate resting is required.
An old wives’ tale before the sophistication of aquaculture in this country.
Often confused with the fact that native Irish oysters are in season when there is a R in the month.
Shellfish in Ireland are purified for a minimum of 42 hours to purge any microbiological contamination that may be present before they can be legally sold (all year round).
Many people are confused about what organic salmon is.
Organic salmon is farmed salmon that has been fed an organic feed. Worlds apart from wild salmon.
To produce one kilo of farmed salmon, upwards of 3 kilos of feed is required. A staggering statistic.
Derived from L- glutamic acid, a flavour enhancer used in many foods.
MSG occurs naturally in many of our favourite umami-rich foods such as tomatoes, mushrooms, seaweed, and malted barley.
Fish cakes with mustard sauce
A spicy take on a classic.
Servings
4Preparation Time
25 minsCooking Time
18 minsTotal Time
43 minsCourse
MainIngredients
For the fish cakes:
900ml milk
1 bay leaf
300g fish
500g potatoes, mashed
1 zest of a lemon
2tsp Dijon mustard
30g chopped soft herbs (such as parsley, chives, dill)
80g plain flour
1 egg
80ml milk
150g panko breadcrumbs
4tb rapeseed oil
For the mustard sauce:
700ml of milk reserved from poaching fish
35g butter
35g flour
2tb wholegrain mustard
1 lemon juiced
Method
To make the fish cakes:
Gently warm the milk and bay leaf in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
Add the fish and poach for 6 – 8 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon remove the fish and set aside. Reserve the milk for the sauce.
Flake the fish.
In a large mixing bowl combine the mashed potato, lemon zest, Dijon mustard and chopped herbs. Mix well and season. Fold through the poached flakes of fish.
Divide the mixture in half three times to produce eight even rounds and shape into fish cakes.
To coat the fish cakes, beat the egg with the milk and place in a small bowl.
Place both the flour and breadcrumbs in a small bowl each. Working in batches toss the fish cakes through the flour first, next through the milk and egg mixture and finally through the breadcrumbs shaking off the excess at each stage.
Place on a tray in the refrigerator until ready to cook.
To make the mustard sauce:
Pass the reserved warm milk from poaching the fish through a sieve and place in a jug. Measure and discard the remaining milk.
In a small saucepan on medium heat add the butter and melt before adding the flour. Cook for two minutes.
Add the warmed milk 100ml at a time mixing with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps from forming. Once all the milk has been added cook for a further five minutes. To finish add the juice of one lemon and wholegrain mustard.
To Serve:
In a large frying pan shallow fry the now breadcrumbed fish cakes in rapeseed oil. Cook in batches until golden brown. Place on a baking tray and cook in a preheated oven at 180°C to warm through.
