Mackerel Fish Cakes (gluten free)

In a continued attempt to be more frugal I’ve been delving deeper into my  store cupboard lately and this week I found the ubiquitous mackerel.  I remember that for some reason mackerel fillets tinned in tomato sauce are actually cheaper than their brine or oil contained counterparts so it makes sense to add a bit of tomato to you life.

Mackerel is one of those amazinge eye sight strenghtening super food type things which packs an excellent omega 3 punch and in tins has to be the most penny-pinching way to enjoy a bit of this tasty, oily fish.  Another benefit of using the tomato clad mackerel is the wicked (did I just say wicked?) pink the fish cakes go inside and the fuzzy feeling you get when you realised you’ve smuggled another of your 5 a day into your dinner.  If you don’t have this wonderous ingredient in your cupboard but do have a tin of tuna then you could try this instead, if not then, onwards, my friends, the recipe is closer than you think…

Makes about 6  fish cakes which serves 2 with salad or 3 for people with small bellies

Ingredients:

• 4/5 medium potatoes
• A tin of mackerel in tomato sauce (you can use the oil or brine ones but drain them first and don’t expect that nice shade of pink I was talking about)
• 4 spring onions, washed and chopped fairly finely
• Salt and pepper
• A handful or 2 of breadcrumbs (I always blend up any gf bread going stale and whack it in a big bag in the freezer)
• An egg
• 2 tablespoons of gluten free plain flour
• Oil for frying

Method:

Boil and mash the potatoes, leave to cool.   Break up the mackerel into the potatoes, toss in the tomato sauce, add the spring onions season and mix.  Form into burger shapes and chill in the fridge for a while until set.

Lay out your other ingredients on plates or shallow dishes, whip the egg slightly to combine.  Dip and roll the cakes first into flour, then egg, and then into the breadcrumbs.

Heat a large frying pan.  Add about 2 tablespoons of oil (more if you can stand it).  Once the oil is hot, fry the fish cakes until golden on each side then serve with salad, or whack in bun for a full on fishy carb fest.