Recipe: fishcakes

I got the idea from the Eat Not Spend blog which is well worth a visit.  This made 11 fish cakes and two is more than enough for a meal with some veg so that's an effort-free meal or several from the freezer over the next few weeks.

Ingredients
half a small onion, finely chopped (3p)
one can of sardines in oil plus the oil (Aldi does them at a reasonable price) (37p)
500g (ish) peeled potatoes, chopped and cooked.  25p
2 small slices or one large slice of bread, zizzed into breadcrumbs - I used the crusts 2p
Any seasonings you fancy - salt, pepper, herbs, etc.  I used mixed herbs and salt  (apf)

Method.
Carefully open the can and pour off the oil, reserving it.
Break up the fish.
Mash the potatoes, adding some of the reserved fishy oil.  No point wasting that flavour.
Mix together the fish, potatoes, breadcrumbs, onion and any seasonings.
Shape into patties or 'cakes.  I used around 50g per patty, shaping each one with floured hands
If using straight away, heat some of the reserved oil in a pan and gently fry on both sides until brown and heated through
If freezing, open freeze on some parchment, then bag up.  Don't forget to label the bag.

I had two with some peas and a corn on the cob from my dad's garden last year and very delicious it was too!

The average cost per patty is ridiculously small - under 7p each.
Next time I will use less mash although I can't say I felt that the fish flavour was weak because it wasn't.  It's just that 7p doesn't sound enough really.


I had some mash (not part of the 500g as used above) and some breadcrumbs left over so I seasoned the mash, added a small splash of milk and 10g grated Italian hard cheese and it formed three croquettes which I rolled in breadcrumbs.  They're also frozen and they cost about 5p each.