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Fish Cakes in Tomato Sauce

Calories
Author Victor

Ingredients

  • 3 slices white bread crusts removed (about 2 ounces / 60 g in total)
  • 1 1/2 pounds / 600 g cod sustainably sourced, halibut, hake or pollock fillet, skinless and boneless
  • 1 medium onion finely chopped (about 150g in total)
  • 4 garlic cloves crushed
  • 1 ounce / 30 g flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
  • 1 ounce / 30 g coriander finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 2 large free-range eggs beaten
  • 4 Tbsp olive oil
  • Tomato sauce:
  • 2½ Tbsp olive oil
  • 1½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 125 ml white wine
  • 14 oz / 400 g can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 red chili seeds removed and finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove crushed
  • 2 tsp caster very fine sugar
  • 2 Tbsp mint leaves roughly chopped
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Prepare the tomato sauce. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a very large frying pan for which you have a lid. Add chopped onion, then spices and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onion is soft and golden brown. Add wine and simmer for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, chili pepper, garlic, sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and some black pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until quite thick. Taste to adjust the seasoning and set aside
  • While the sauce is cooking, make the fish cakes. Place the bread in a food processor and blitz to form bread crumbs. Chop the fish very finely and place in a bowl along with the bread and everything else, except the olive oil. Mix together well and then, using your hands, shape the mixture into compact cakes about ¾ inch / 2 cm thick and 3¼ inches / 8 cm in diameter. You should have 8 cakes. If they are very soft, refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up. (You can also add some dried bread crumbs to the mix, though do this sparingly; the cakes need to be quite wet.)
  • Heat half the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, add half of the cakes, and sear for 3 minutes on each side, until well colored. Repeat with the remaining cakes and oil.
  • Gently place the seared cakes side by side in the tomato sauce; you can squeeze them a bit so they all fit. Add just enough water to cover the cakes partially (about a scant 1 cup / 200 ml). Cover the pan with the lid and simmer over very low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the cakes to settle, uncovered, for at least 10 minutes before serving warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with the mint