Sardine Fishcakes with Wilted Spinach and Poached Egg
I do like sardines. Not only are they very good value and rich in omega 3, they are also delicious. I would normally grill them, but I thought of trying something different. Crab, salmon or some white fleshed fish are normally the usual suspects in a fishcake, but I thought that sardine fishcakes should work equally as well.
Ingredients – Serves 6
5 large Potatoes
6 fresh grilled Sardines (2 tins work just as well!)
2 cloves of Garlic crushed
2 whole Chillies chopped
1 tablespoon of Thick Double Cream
1 tablespoon of Butter
1 handful of Flat Leave Parsley chopped finely
Two crusts of stale bread
Vegetable / Sunflower / Canola Oil
750g Spinach
7 Eggs
Rape Seed / Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Method
Boil the potatoes in a large pan of water until they are soft. Drain, add the butter, cream, season with salt and pepper and then mash it all together. Let this cool down.
Using a fork gently break up the sardine fillets. Add them to the mashed potato along with the garlic, chillies and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Mix all this together and shape into six equal sized fishcakes.
You will then need to pané the fishcakes (or coat them) in beaten egg and breadcrumbs. To do this, blitz the bread crusts in a food processor and place them in a shallow bowl. Beat one of the eggs in another bowl, then in turn place each fishcake into the beaten egg and then into the breadcrumbs. If you want a thicker and crispier coating you can repeat the process.
In a pan place enough vegetable oil to shallow fry the fishcakes for a couple of minutes each side or until golden brown. Then place them on a baking tray and put them in an oven preheated to 180° Celsius for 15-20 mins.
While they are heating through, poach the eggs and wilt the spinach. To save energy I tend to do this by placing the eggs in a sauce pan and placing the spinach in a steamer over the top of the eggs.
To serve, place the spinach on a plate and a fishcake onto the spinach. Add a poached egg on top of each fishcake and dress with Rape Seed or Olive Oil and a crack of black pepper.
This dish was inspired by a similar dish eaten recently at The Strand Pub in Southampton.
