Small Baked Fish Cakes

I love a good fish cake and I’m so pleased with this recipe, it turns out beautifully in the oven, and once you do the work of putting the ingredients together, you have a very simple and straightforward meal, which will be loved by young and old.

Fish pie bites!

When I have a random selection of fish left to use, I often opt for a fish pie - it’s quick and easy, comforting and lovely. I wanted to change it up a bit, and also make something that was a bit more “grabbable” for my toddler, and I thought of fish cakes. Instead of going for a larger, 1-per-person kind of size, I thought it would be nice if they were a bit more like “fish nuggets”, so to speak. Easy to hold, nice to combine with different sides on the plate, and also very straightforward to freeze and use later. In a sense, these fish cakes are a bit like fish pie bites, because it’s more or less the same ingredients, just put together a bit differently (also with added egg). The ingredients are not miles away from other fish pie recipes you’ll find, but there’s a bit more cheese, which makes them delicious and family friendly (but you can of course omit the cheese if you want it a bit lighter or need to avoid that for dietary reasons).

Small Baked Fish Cakes

Makes a ton! (I had so much leftover and lost count)

Cook time: 15-20 minutes | Cool down time: 10 minutes | Total time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 onion

• 500g skinless, boneless fish (I used 250g basa and 250g salmon but anything you’ve got is great, including other seafood!)

• 1kg potatoes

• 50g butter

• 50ml milk

• 1tbsp mustard

• 1/3 cup capers (optional)

• 1 cup grated cheese (I used mostly mature cheddar and a bit of parmesan)

• 1 large carrot

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup flour

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1 cup breadcrumbs

Finely chop the onion and gently fry it in butter or oil in a pan (you can add a bit of water to keep the frying very gentle, we don’t want it to go brown, just clear). After about 5 minutes, add the fish to the pan*. Just as the fish starts to look done (changing colour and going flaky), turn the heat off and let it cool down a bit.

Boil the potatoes well until they are soft, drain the water and make a nice, smooth mash. Add butter, milk and mustard and mix well, and then mix in the cheese.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan assisted), about 400ºF.

Grate the carrot and add in to the mix, as well as the (drained and rinsed) capers, and the frozen peas. Mix well. Add the fish and onion from the pan and gently mix together.

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Spread the breadcrumbs onto the baking paper. In two separate bowls, add the flour (with salt and pepper mixed in) and the eggs (beaten).

With a spoon and/or your hand, scoop out a bit of the fish/potato mix, shape into a ball and coat in the flour. Dip in the eggs, and then roll in the breadcrumbs and place on the baking paper. Push slightly down on the ball to make more of a patty shape. Repeat with the rest of the mix.

Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, turning over halfway through.

I have served this with some steamed kale on the side, and a quick dipping sauce consisting of some Greek yoghurt, lemon juice and mayonnaise mixed together, also with some coleslaw on the side - both options were great!

Another note: if you make a big batch and freeze, you may encounter the same thing I did; the mix was a bit wet when I thawed it again, and harder to press into cakes and dip in egg and breadcrumbs. When this happened to me, I just put what mixture I had left into an oven dish, sprinkled cheese and breadcrumbs on top and had it as a fish pie. It was perfect!

*if you are taking the opportunity to use leftover fish/seafood which has already been cooked (which is a great way to go!), you can skip this step and add it in with the potatoes later.

I’d love to see your fish cakes! Share on Instagram and tag @TheFromScratchBody and hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it, or email me a photo!