Classic Salmon & Pea Fishcakes (Slimming World Friendly)

I call these Salmon & Pea Fishcakes 'classic' as they are flavoured with capers, mustard, spring onion and chives mainly, whereas I have shared a few other fishcake recipes previously which ave a bit of spice such as these Thai Fish Cakes with Quick Chilli Oil, Haddock Fishcakes, Tuna Fishcakes and Mexican Style Salmon Fishcakes  

I am following the Slimming World programme at the moment, and this was an 'on plan' meal at only 2.5 syns per portion for x2 fishcakes (this is for the small amount of flour and the wholemeal breadcrumbs - you could actually use HEB for this if you haven't already as I had yesterday). 

This recipe makes x8 fishcakes which I shared between the family, but if you're cooking just for you, these would keep in the fridge for a few days and you can also freeze them. I serve with a big salad for lots of Speed. 

I also made a quick and syn-free 'tartare sauce' by popping into a small bowl 3 tbsp fat free yoghurt, a tbsp of capers and a few cornichons chopped up with a squeeze of lemon juice, some chopped chives and a pinch of salt and pepper. 

Classic Salmon & Pea Fishcakes (Slimming World Friendly)

Classic Salmon & Pea Fishcakes (2.5 syns on Slimming World)

Here's how:

• 1/2 side of salmon or roughly 470g salmon 
• 1 large spring onion
• 3 potatoes (or some leftover mash potato)
• Handful fresh chives
• 1 tbsp English mustard
• 1.5 tbsp capers
• 150g frozen peas
• Salt
• Black and white pepper
• 1 slice of wholemeal bread
• 1 egg
• Fry Light Spray (I like to use the Rapeseed spray)
• 1 tbsp plain flour

Firstly place the x3 potatoes, with their skin on, into the microwave for fifteen minutes. 

In the meantime prepare the rest of the Salmon & Pea Fishcake ingredients. 

In a large bowl place the capers, English mustard, snip in the chives and finely slice the spring onion and add to the bowl. 

Take the 1/2 side of salmon or fillets, and chop into bite sized pieces and add to the bowl. 

Cook the frozen peas for a couple of minutes in boiling water, drain and add to the salmon mixture. 

Once the potatoes have cooked for fifteen minutes, remove from the microwave, slice in half, then spoon out the potato inside and place into the bowl. 

Season generously with white pepper and salt and use a fork or spoon to mush together and mix up until all of the ingredients are combined. 

Separate into eight almost equal sized amounts, and then use your hands to shape into a fishcake, circular shape and place onto a plate, repeat until you have eight fishcakes. 

Now into one bowl place the flour and season with black pepper and a pinch of salt. 

Into the second bowl, place the breadcrumbs from the wholemeal bread (I blitz in the Nutribullet). 

Into the the third bowl, crack in the egg, and give a quick beat. 

Now you are ready to pane the fishcakes. But first place a large non stick frying pan onto a low-to-medium heat on the hob and give a spray with the Fry Light, 3-4 sprays. 

To pane, firstly, take one fishcake and roll into the seasoned flour, then place immediately into the beaten egg, and finally roll in the breadcrumb mixture. Set aside on a clean plate. Repeat until all of the fishcakes have their breadcrumbs and are ready to cook.

Place each fishcake into the pan and pop a timer on for five minutes. 

After five minutes, carefully turn each fishcake over, they should be slightly golden. I use two tablespoons to turn over carefully. 

Cook for a further five minutes and serve with a wedge of lemon, a big salad and if you like, the Fat Free Yoghurt Tartare Sauce. Enjoy!

Tuna Fishcakes

These fishcakes are super quick and easy to make, really tasty and if you're stuck at home with children during the COVID-19 pandemic as we are, they are a good activity to get the little ones involved in cooking. They're also a great store cupboard recipe, as much of what you will need, you are likely to have in the cupboard or fridge and whenever we have leftover mashed potato, fishcakes are inevitably on the menu the following day.

Tuna Fishcakes

Tinned tuna is actually a really good store cupboard ingredient for these times and in addition to the recipe for these Asian-style tuna fishcakes I've listed out a few other ideas below with the ingredients needed:

• Tuna Pasta Salad (uni style): Cooked fusilli pasta, mayo, spring onions, cucumber, tomatoes, sweetcorn, squeeze of lemon, black pepper

• Tuna Pasta Bake: a simple tomato sauce (onion, garlic, tinned tomatoes, dried herbs such as basil, rosemary or oregano and olive oil) stirred through the pasta with the tinned tuna, then put into an oven-proof dish and topped with a little cheese before baking

• Tuna Nicoise Salad: tinned tuna, boiled egg, tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, cooked new potatoes (or leftover roast or boiled potatoes), red onion, olives, anchovies

• Jacket Potato Topping or Sandwich filler: tuna, mayonnaise, tinned sweetcorn

• Tuna & Sweetcorn Frittata: A thick baked omelette made up of x3-4 eggs, sweetcorn, some fresh herbs if you have them (parsley or dill would work), a finely chopped pepper, red onion, a handful grated hard cheese (Cheddar, Red Leicester or Parmesan would work) and milk

The below served x4 of us for a lovely lunchtime meal served with a ribbon salad which is simply x2 carrots, and 1/2 a cucumber cut into ribbons using a vegetable peeler, drizzled with a tiny bit of soy and topped with some sesame seeds, as well as a variety of dipping sauces, one being just Sriracha, one a chipotle mayo (just mix together) and finally an Asian dipping sauce of soy, fish sauce, chilli oil, sesame oil and some fresh ginger. Sweet Chilli Sauce would work too.


Here's how:

• x2 tins tuna
• 1 red onion
• 3-4 tbsp leftover mashed potato
• 3cm piece of ginger
• Handful fresh coriander 
• 1 egg
• 1 slice of bread blitzed into breadcrumbs
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp Chinese Five Spice
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp Sriracha
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of black pepper
• Sesame oil to fry

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and put a little sesame oil into a frying pan on a low heat.

Finely dice the onion, peel and finely chop or grate the ginger, and roughly chop the coriander and add to a mixing bowl.

To that bowl add the leftover mashed potato, the drained tuna, the fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, salt and pepper. Use a fork to roughly mix together. It should be a chunky texture so don't be tempted to use a hand blender here.

Now into a bowl crack one egg and beat and set aside.

Pop the breadcrumbs into another bowl, and finally add the flour to a third bowl. Add the Chinese Five Spice, a pinch of salt and black pepper to the flour and give a quick mix.

Now you're ready to assemble, get a chopping board or a plate to place each fishcake as it's formed ready.

Now go in with your hands and get about 1.5 tbsp of the mixture and roll into a firm ball, then place in the palm of one hand and lightly press down with the other to get it flatter and like a fishcake size and shape. 

Drop the formed fishcake into the flour then turn over, next dip into the beaten egg and finally toss into the breadcrumbs and then set on the board or plate and then repeat until all of the mixture is used up.

Now place about 4-5 of the fishcakes (depending on size) into the pan and allow them to brown for a few minutes, then use a tablespoon to gently turn over and cook the other side. I sometimes add a little oil to the pan using Fry Light at this stage so they're not too dry.

Once cooked through, remove the fishcakes and put onto a baking sheet and place into the oven to keep warm (nobody wants cold mash potato in anything!). Repeat the process and place the final fishcakes into the oven for five minutes before you're ready to serve. Enjoy!

Tuna Fishcakes

Cod Fishcakes with Quick Tartare Sauce

Fishcakes are a great favourite in our home, my girls love eating them, but they also love getting involved with making them too; the joy of getting your hands messy is never boring for children and I love them getting cooking and teaching them basic cooking skills even aged 5 and 3. 

I've used smoked and unsmoked cod here, which is wonderful in fish cakes, and we had some leftover mash potato from the night before, which is invariably an invitation for us to make some fishcakes. 

Loads of different fish works well for different fishcakes - we love salmon, mackerel, tuna, crab and haddock but these cod ones are quite classic and appeal to a child's palate perfectly. 

The quick tartare is well worth the effort too and it's made from mostly store cupboard ingredients that you're likely to already have in stock.

Cod Fishcakes with Quick Tartare Sauce

Here's how:

Fishcakes:

• 200g mash potato 
• 400g cod
• 200g smoked cod
• 3 spring onions
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley 
• 1 tbsp creamed horseradish
• Zest of x1 lemon
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• Bowl full of breadcrumbs or panko

Quick Tartare:

• 150g mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp rinsed, capers
• 5 cornichons
• 1/2 tsp English mustard
• 1 tsp creamed horseradish
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley

Firstly, place the oven on to 180 degrees. 

Now in a large bowl place the mashed potato. 

Finely chop the chives and the parsley and add to the bowl.

Zest the lemon and add to the bowl.

Finely chop the spring onions and add to the bowl.

Now cut the fish into about 1cm pieces and add to the bowl. Season well with salt and black pepper.

Now prepare the bowls to pane the fishcakes once formed. In one bowl crack the eggs and beat.

In another bowl, add the flour and season again.

Finally place the breadcrumbs (I whizz up whatever bread I have indoors in my Nutribullet) into a third bowl.

Get a plate, tray or chopping board ready to place each of the fishcakes onto.

Now firstly mix all of the fishcake ingredients together gently with a wooden spoon.

Now get your hands in and grab a handful of the fishcake mixture. Squish it together and form a patty shape - like a burger. You don't want each fishcake to be much more than 2.5cm wide ideally and try to keep them as similar in size as you can so they cook at the same pace.

Once each fishcake is formed, firstly roll in the flour, then the egg, make sure the fishcake is wet all over and then roll in the breadcrumbs and place onto the plate or tray.

Repeat until all of the fishcake mixture has been used up and you have a set of 6-8 fishcakes.

Now add some vegetable oil to a large frying pan and place onto a medium heat. Grab an oven tray or dish and get it close by.

Place 2-3 fishcakes into the pan at once and allow to cook for about two minutes on each side until lightly golden and crisp, then turn over and do the same on the over side, then remove to the oven tray.

Repeat until all of the fishcakes have been fried and once they're all on the oven tray place that into the oven for ten minutes to ensure the fish is cooked through and the fishcakes are piping hot.

In the meantime, assemble the tartare sauce by adding the mayonnaise to a bowl, with the English mustard, creamed horseradish and lemon juice. Make sure the capers are thoroughly rinsed and add to the mayonnaise mixture, roughly chop the cornichons and the parsley and add to the mixture and stir through.

Once the fishcakes are cooked through serve with a simple salad and a spoonful of the tartare sauce. Enjoy!

Here are a few other fishcake recipes you might like:
Mexican Style Salmon Fishcakes
Thai Salmon Fishcakes with Quick Chilli Oil
Colcannon Mackerel Fishcakes
Spiced Tuna Fishcakes
Haddock Fishcakes
Lightly Spiced Salmon Fishcakes

Haddock Fishcakes

Fishcakes are incredibly versatile; you can make so many different variations, whether it's the fish, the filling or the flavourings, and my family just love these haddock ones that use some smoked and unsmoked haddock. They're also a fantastic way to use up any leftover mash potato - we hate waste.

For these ones, I use Asian flavourings of chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander, but these are also great with chopped capers, parsley and a little mustard too.

These are a lovely meal to make with your children, they can get involved with chopping, mixing, making breadcrumbs, shaping the fishcakes and then the fun of dipping into egg, flour and breadcrumbs. Bridget helped me throughout making these yesterday, and was so proud to present her cooking to Daddy and her little sister (who devoured the lot). Children are always more open to trying things when they have been involved in the cooking process and my two never turn their nose up at fish - I just love cooking with my children.

I used a green chilli here as Glen and I love some spice in these fishcakes, however I make the girls fishcakes first, to avoid them getting a big hit of spice; but you make up your own mind. If you're not keen on spice, omit the chilli.

I served with a side salad, a handful of chunky chips and some sweet chilli sauce and the below makes four generous ones, or eight smaller ones.

Haddock Fishcakes

Here's how:

• 200g haddock
• 175g unsmoked haddock
• 200g mash potato (I used Maris Piper here, but any will work)
• 3 spring onions
• 1 clove garlic
• 3cm piece of ginger
• Half a bunch of coriander
• 1 green chilli (optional)
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• Sea salt and black pepper
• Bowl full of breadcrumbs (I blitzed 2 slices granary bread in a blender)
• Drizzle vegetable oil

Firstly pre-heath the oven to 180 degrees and then prepare the flavourings, finely slice the spring onions, mince the garlic clove and grate the ginger and add to a large bowl.

Roughly chop the coriander and add to the bowl. Finely slice the chilli and set aside if preparing for small children, or throw in the bowl.

Add the prepared mashed potato into the bowl too.

Now chop the haddock into bite sized pieces and throw into the bowl. Mix everything together until everything is well combined.

Now get three bowls and add to the first, the flour and a generous seasoning. To the second bowl crack in the egg (give a quick whip) and into the third and final bowl add the breadcrumbs.

Now is time to make each fishcake and there is no other way than with your hands. Take a generous handful and shape with your hands into thick rounds. Once you are happy with the shape, place onto a plate or a piece of parchment paper, and repeat the process until happy with all of the fishcakes. 

Haddock Fishcakes

Now drizzle the oil into a non-stick pan and place on a low heat to allow to heat up before a quick browning of each fishcake.

Now to complete the fishcakes, take one and dip into the flour first and turn around so it becomes coated in the seasoned flour, then dip into the egg mix, and then finally the breadcrumbs so they are fully coated, then return to the plate or the parchment paper and repeat until each fishcake is coated.

Now wash your hands - by now they will probably be duly coated in an eggy, breadcrumb mix. 

The pan should now be warm enough for you to quickly fry the fishcakes for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown. 

Then place onto a baking sheet and into the oven for 15 minutes to cook through. Enjoy!

Some other fishcake recipes that might be of interest:

Spiced Tuna Fishcakes
Mexican Style Salmon Fishcakes
Thai Salmon Fishcakes
Lightly Spiced Salmon Fishcakes
Colcannon Mackerel Fishcakes

Baby Bites Spiced Tuna Fishcakes

This fishcake dish is another great finger food recipe for your weaning tot and one that has some really delicate spicing to introduce your little darling to some new, interesting flavours.

It uses tinned tuna too so is a really economical dish and makes enough for 3 fishcakes – two of which can be popped into the fridge or freezer for a later date.

Also these are really tasty and full of delicious flavour so they can be enjoyed by all of the family – just up the quantities.

I served here with some cooked carrot batons and baby corn but any vegetables you have will work – I just like to use a variety and introduce Bridget to as many different vegetables as possible to work out which she likes – so far most of them!

Here’s how:

6 new potatoes

1 tin of tuna (I use John West No Drain in Spring Water)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped coriander

2 spring onions

1 clove garlic

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon garam masala

¼ teaspoon paprika

1 egg

1 slice of brown or granary bread

Drizzle of oil (vegetable or rapeseed or something light in flavour)

Firstly place the new potatoes into the microwave and cook for 6 minutes – check they are cooked through – if not cook for a further minute or two.

In the meantime, finely slice the spring onions, coriander and parsley and mince the garlic and set aside for a moment.

Place the potatoes into a small bowl and use a fork to crush and mash – if they aren’t easy to crush add a tiny drizzle of oil. As with the Mexican Salmon Fishcakes you want the potatoes broken down but not turned into a smooth mash – it just helps the fishcakes to hold some structure and not fall apart if you do this.

Once the potatoes are suitable crushed, add the spring onions, garlic, coriander and parsley and the herbs and stir.

Now open your tin of tuna and pour into the bowl giving a good stir with a fork to evenly distribute the tuna.

Now add the egg and stir through.

Blitz the bread into breadcrumbs and place onto a plate or in another bowl and at this time drizzle the oil into a non-stick pan and place on a low-medium heat.

Now scoop out a heaped tablespoon of the fishcake mixture and shape into a small rounded shape – like a mini burger. The mixture will be wet from the egg so place onto the plate of breadcrumbs and gently pat down to coat, then turn over and repeat. Shape all of the mixture into fishcakes and if freezing wrap in clingfilm and allow to cool before popping into the freezer - likewise if chilling. 

Then place into the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Simultaneously cook the vegetables and allow both to cool to a suitable temperature before serving to little one. 

Fish Friday

Colcannon Mackerel Fishcakes

A simple but delicious take on the humble fishcake.

I've used mackerel in these as their moist, rich flavour goes perfectly with the colcannon-style base. I've also added a little heat to the dish, but this can be omitted if you're not a spice fan.

I served this as lunch for myself and my brother and we had homemade chips and a little sweet chilli dipping sauce as accompaniments.

I prepared the chips by simply slicing some Charlotte potatoes (skin on), par-boiling for ten minutes, draining then placing in a pre-heated oven for 20 mins at 200C.

I enjoyed my lunch with a generous glass of Gallo White Zinfandel, a deliciously zingy Californian rose, after all it is Friday - let the weekend begin.

200g (approx) Smoked Mackerel Fillets
150g White Potatoes
2 Large Spring Onions
50g Spring Greens
2 Slices of Bread (white or brown)
1 Tbsp Creamed Horseradish
1 Tsp Hot Pepper Sauce
1 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

First peel the potatoes and boil till soft, then mash, season and place in a bowl to cool (I used a knob of butter to mash).

Chop/mix the bread in a food processor to create breadcrumbs and place into a bowl.

Chop the spring onions and put into the bowl with the mashed potato.

Remove the skin from the mackerel fillets and break up the fish into small pieces and also place in the bowl.

Finely shred the spring greens then put in a pan of boiling water and simmer for 4-5 mins, drain and place on a hopping board. Use a clean tea towel or some kitchen roll to absorb any excess water then also place into the bowl.

Add the horseradish, hot pepper sauce, cayenne and a good sprinkling of salt and black pepper and mix well. Add a heaped tablespoon full of the breadcrumbs and mix again.

Get a tablespoon full of the mixture into your hands and form a round with it, place in the breadcrumbs till it's covered, then put onto a plate, and repeat to make similar sized fishcakes.

Heat a pan on a medium heat with a little oil, I used grapeseed oil as it's very light in flavour, however any oil would work. Once the pan is hot add the fishcakes and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy.

Serves four.