Can you believe that it is March already and Spring is just around the corner? Me neither, but there it is, this year is already whizzing past too quickly! With the over indulgence of Christmas and the fresh beginnings of the New Year way behind us now, it is a lovely feeling knowing that meal times are just normal now and there is no guilt involved (well until Easter comes with all of its chocolate eggs of course!).
McCain have launched a new campaign to highlight how nice it is to get back to regular meal times . Their ‘Back to Normal’ incentive is to encourage parents get back into the full swing of the school routine and mid-week teas, and create tasty dishes using their frozen range of products. I am always on the look out for new food ideals to feed my two boys with during the school week, because meal times can become samey and a little dull for those who cook them and for those who eat them!
Using McCain’s potato croquettes I decided to invent a new recipe and give my boys a little twist on one of their teatime favourites. I made some fishcakes but instead of using mashed potato, I cooked a bag of croquettes instead to mix with my tinned salmon.
I added a handful of cooked frozen peas for some hidden veggie goodness, and a squirt of sweet chili sauce for some flavour (you could use ketchup instead).
Shape the mixture into 4 patties using your hands – I love getting my hands stuck in!
Then chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, before dipping each one into a little beaten egg and then roll in some crushed breakfast wheat biscuits, before browning in some butter and oil in a pan and then transferring to an oven to cook through for 10 minutes.
Serve with some veggies (and some baked beans and/or pasta shapes in tomato sauce if your children like them – which mine do!)
If you fancy having a go at making these yourself, then here is how
- 1 bag of McCain potato croquettes
- 1x 213g tin of pink salmon
- 50g cooked petit pois (or peas)
- 1 tbsp sweet child sauce or ketchup
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 breakfast wheat biscuits, crushed
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp oil
- cook the McCain potato croquettes as instructed on the packet
- place the cooked croquettes in a bowl and mash with a fork
- cook the peas until tender
- add the peas and mash again
- add the sweet chili sauce or ketchup and mix and mash
- leave to cool for a few minutes until you can touch it with your hands
- shape the mixture into 4 patties
- chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes
- then roll each patty in the egg and the crushed breakfast wheat biscuit, and heat the butter and oil in an oven proof pan and brown each side for a few minutes
- transfer to the oven (190oC / 170oC fan ) and cook for another 10 minutes]
- cook your veggies
- serve and enjoy
Both boys said they liked their crispy fishcakes and they did not notice any difference by me using potato croquettes. It was great not having to peel potatoes and mashing the cooked croquettes with a fork was very easy.
I was sent a voucher to cover the cost of the ingredients, and some McCain cooking tools for the purpose of writing this post.
These look amazing. My boys both love salmon fishcakes. Will buy these next time xx
Thank you
What a good idea! My potatoes are often a but watery when I do them.
Thank you, plus handy to always have some in the freezer to sue whenever
What a lovely idea for a quick and tasty tea! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Eb x
Thank you and for your comment
These look great Jenny. I never manage to get fish cakes as crispy as shop bought ones so I’m going to try weetabix next time too to see if that helps! Thanks for joining up with #CookBlogShare.
Thank you 🙂 I hope you like the weetabix crumbs!
Love that you used weetabix in your recipe. thanks for sharing it. 🙂
thank you – always good to get some extra fibre into a meal!
What an ingenious way of using croquettes – I’d never thought to eat them any other way than as they come and I’m sure most other people wouldn’t have done either. It must leave lots of lovely crunchy bits inside the fish cakes too!
Thank you, it was one of those ideas that just popped into my head!