Chilli and Garlic Salmon Fishcakes

These are ridiculously moreish fishcakes with a thin, crisp coating. They make an excellent canapé or snack when served with sweet chilli sauce, or use several of them to make part of a main meal.

These are a real crowd pleaser and the recipe can easily be adapted to fit leftovers. The chilli and garlic are just enough to make it interesting while making sure the flavour of the salmon still shines through. The polenta and breadcrumb coating is thinner than your average crumb coating, but is packed full of flavour and makes a tasty, crunchy shell. The polenta is the secret to this crumb since you can get a big crunch from a small amount.

This recipe makes 16 fishcakes, roughly 5cm in diameter. They freeze well and get a nice crunchy crumb texture from baking alone, so I recommend making a big batch like this and keeping some back to freeze. These will be a real life-saver on those low energy days when you just want something homemade, wholesome and quick.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED

Large Mixing Bowl

Tray or Plate for Polenta Coating

Baking Tray

INGREDIENTS

For the fishcake

300g Baked Salmon (no bones, skin or scales)

550g Boiled Potatoes (from roughly 2 large raw potatoes, cubed, skin on)

1 Large Carrot (grated)

2 Eggs

1 Chilli (roughly 10cm long, as hot as you dare)

4 Garlic Cloves

1 level tsp Salt (or season to taste)

For the crumb coating

50g Coarse Polenta

50g Fine Breadcrumbs

1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika

1) Crush the potatoes in a large mixing bowl with the grated carrot. Finely chop the chilli and garlic cloves, then add those to the potatoes as well. Gently mix in the flaked salmon so that it is evenly distributed but still retains some form of chunkiness and does not end up as fish paste. Season to taste, then mix in the eggs. The mixture should come together in a soft dough texture that stays in shape when moulded.

2) Prepare a tray or plate with all of the ingredients listed for the crumb coating. Take a handful of fishcake mixture and shape it into a ball. Flatten this ball slightly and then roll it on its side to make a shallow cylinder. Place this in the polenta mix and cover the fishcake well with crumbs. Repeat this until all of the fishcake mixture has been used.

3) Leave them in the fridge for 30 minutes so that the fishcakes firm up and the polenta sticks securely. Bake them in the oven on a sheet of greaseproof paper for 20 minutes at 190°C/Gas Mark 5. They are ready when the polenta crumb in crisp and golden. You may need to flip them over and bake a further 5 minutes for all-round crispness.

When reheating from frozen, bake on greaseproof paper/ non-stick sheet at 180°C/ Gas Mark 4 for 25 minutes, and then turn up the heat to 200/ Gas Mark 6 for a further 10 minutes, or until they are hot to touch and the coating is browned and crisp.