So far the summer holidays have not seen much sunshine! This annoys me somewhat as I am sure it does most parents to school aged children, because my plans of days spent outside with picnics has not yet really taken off! Still, there is still time and I am hopeful that the better weather will return and with it lots of outdoor fun.
One good thing about the wet weather, is that while the boy were watching a film this morning, I was able to prepare their tea in peace. I had no idea what to make, but then after going through my freezer, fridge and cupboard I decided to make some fishcakes. I love thinking up a meal idea using things I find in my kitchen – it reminds me of the invention test on Masterchef lol!
Anyway, I found some tins of pink salmon, some frozen mash, spinach, feta cheese, parsley, mayonnaise and some bread and eggs. I am always wanting to get spinach into my boys, in particular Burton who has a low iron reading, but if they spot it in their food they turn their noses up and refuse to eat it! However this Mummy loves a challenge and finding new ways of forcing finding ways of getting them to eat more veg packed with goodness, so hiding spinach inside fishcakes seemed like a great idea! I found a recipe which combined salmon and spinach but adapted it based on what ingredients I had, and I have to say these fishcakes were delicious! Really good, and my children did not detect the spinach – they asked what the green specks were and I told a whopper little lie and told them herbs!
Here is the recipe – obviously if you don’t have frozen mash, then just make fresh mash instead:
- 500g frozen (or fresh) mashed potato
- 2 x 213g tins of pink salmon
- 2 handfuls of spinach, long stalks removed
- 1 tsp parsley
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp light mayonnaise
- 100g feta cheese cubes
- zest of ½ lemon
- 4-5 slices of bread (I used half and half), blitzed in a food processor to make crumbs
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 tbsp flour
- butter and olive oil for frying
- leave the frozen mash to defrost, or cook gently to defrost
- place the spinach in a food processor until it has been blitzed into tiny pieces
- place into a dry saucepan, place a lid on top and gently steam for about 3-4 minutes until softened
- place the tinned salmon, spinach, mash potato, parsley, lemon zest and pepper into a large bowl and using a fork mash well until combined
- add the mayonnaise and mix in to make a slightly sticky fishcake dough
- form the 'dough' into 6 cakes
- place on a plate, cover and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour - longer if you have time
- pre heat the oven to 180oC / 160oC
- make your breadcrumbs, place on a large plate
- put the eggs in a bowl, place the flour on a plate and the breadcrumbs on another
- for each fishcake: cover with flour, roll in the beaten egg and cover with breadcrumbs
- heat a little oil and butter in a non stick pan, and flash fry each cake for a couple of minutes on each side until browned ( you may need to add more fat )
- place each cake on a baking tray and then finish off in the oven for 10 minutes
- serve and enjoy
The boys enjoyed their fishcakes, although they did say that next time they would prefer not to have the cheese! I, however, thought they were amazing with the feta but I am happy to exclude it next time because after all, it was the spinach I was trying to sneak into them, and I managed that successfully *does a happy mummy dance*!
(Apologies for the iPhone photos used, only I did not have time to get out my proper camera as I wanted to eat my tea before it got too cold, ha ha!)
I would defintely keep the feta…love it. Well done for sneaking spinach
Thank you Beth, I was a little pleased with myself lol , its the simple things! x
Ha ha! I always use the herbs trick when sneaking in spinach too. Why that is acceptable to them I have no idea. These look good – well done for making something yummy out of things you already had! #CookBlogShare
These fishcakes look and sounds so good! I love the addition of the feta cheese. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
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