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4 May 2012

Fish cakes

I love having these little fish cakes – they always remind me of summer days, being by the pool at the Jockey Club in Hong-Kong, sipping ice-cold lemonades. It’s the typical food you would get at a ‘gastropub’, very cozy and British. I serve this dish with a simple purple endive salad – the bitter-sweet taste of the salad goes well with the lemon in the fish cakes, and the colour is so appetizing. Serve with a good quality mayonnaise (or home-made of course!). I buy the one from Maille (in the fresh dairy department) – it’s excellent.
Here’s a good tip, I make these cakes the day before and freeze them. Just wrap each fish cake in cling film. You can also make them early in the day, so you have time to refrigerate them. It’s important to let them get firm or they will break easily the frying process.

Ingredients

1 kg potatoes (about 5 large potatoes – peeled, chopped/cubed)
800 grs fresh salmon
Juice and zest of half a lemon
1 tbsp mustard
A large handful finely chopped parsley
5 tbsp flour for dusting
1 lemon for garnishing
Salt & pepper

In boiling salted water, boil the chopped/cubed potatoes until cooked. When ready set aside to cool. In the same water, add a bay leaf and boil salmon for 5 minutes max. When ready set aside and discard skin. Let it cool.
When these ingredients are completely cool, mash the potatoes coarsely. I use silicone gloves and mash with my hands – much more fun. Add the mustard, juice and zest of half a lemon, parsley, salt and pepper to taste. ‘Flake’ in the salmon and mix together. Shape about 16 patties with your hands, and dust each patties with flour on each sides. Leave in fridge to set for minimum an hour. It’s important for the fish cakes to harden.

Fry in olive oil on each side until golden, about 4 minutes. Serve with mayonnaise and a squeeze of lemon. Perfect with a glass of Saint-Aubin wine.

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4 May 2012

Salade Niçoise


Yesterday the weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, so I wanted to have lunch ‘al fresco’. I decided to make a Niçoise salad, a perfect classic dish with all my favourite ingredients. And so healthy. I don’t put anchovies because my kids always pull a face when they see them – I try my best to make them eat and taste new and different things, but anchovies are hard to swallow. I learnt a little trick from chef Yves Camdeborde (he is the chef at Le comptoir du relais, 9 carrefour de l’Odéon, 75006 Paris it’s my favourite place in Paris to eat a salad Niçoise) – sprinkling little fried onions on the salad. You can buy them at the supermarket. It’s delicious! There are many versions of this salad, and here’s mine.

Ingredients (for 4)

2 cans of good-quality white tuna
A handful of french green beans (boiled)
3 potatoes (boiled and cut in slices)
15 cherry tomatoes (halved)
2 heads sucrine lettuce
3 boiled eggs
100 grs black olives
8 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard
1 crushed garlic
Small handful of fried onions
Salt & pepper

Boil the eggs, set aside to cool. Boil the sliced potatoes and French green beans until cooked. Set aside to cool.

Wash and prepare the lettuce, slice the tomatoes, set aside. In a dressing bowl, prepare a basic vinaigrette with the olive oil, vinegar, crushed garlic, mustard, salt and pepper. Mix well. Set aside.

In a large salad plate or bowl, garnish the base with the lettuce salad. Add the tomatoes, potatoes, French beans, quartered eggs and olives in a circular display. Add the coarsely chopped tuna all over the salad, and drizzle with the dressing. Finally, sprinkle with the fried onions.

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