It can be hard to find hot smoked salmon fillet, unless of course you are lucky enough to have a proper fishmonger like Steve Hatt in the neighbourhood. Usually when I buy this I serve it cold with salad, or even mix it with smoked haddock for a slightly different take on kedgeree. Last week, for some reason, I decided to make hot smoked salmon fishcakes. Never made fishcakes from scratch in my life before… so glad I tried it!

Ingredients for 2 people (4 fishcakes):

1 hot smoked salmon fillet – skin removed, broken up into small pieces

1/2 cup chopped coriander leaf

1/2 medium onion, chopped very finely

1 garlic clove, chopped very finely

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp sumac

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

pinch of salt (not too much, hot smoked salmon is salty)

grated zest of 1/2 lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

4 small or 2 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed with butter.

 

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup breadcrumbs.

Olive oil to fry the fishcakes

What to do, roughly speaking.

In a bowl, mix the salmon, coriander, onion, garlic, oregano, sumac, black pepper, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice.

Add the mashed potato, mix it up with a fork, then divide it into 4.

Shape into….well….fishcake shapes!!

In a separate shallow bowl beat the eggs and add the breadcrumbs.

Pick up each fishcake carefully and coat each side with the eggy breadcrumbs.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan; enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

When it’s hot but not smoking place the fishcakes in there. Gently, now..

Cook for about 3 minutes on one side, turn them over carefully with a fish slice and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on the other side

Serve with green veg (beans and tenderstem broccoli are both good at the moment) and a nice drop of Picpoul.