Fish cakes

Jen at Last Night's Dinner made me think of fishcakes. I like them. She used a Mario Batali recipe as inspiration, with tuna and ricotta. Her ricotta made me think of yoghurt. And I like smoked fish. And had a lot of avocados...so: here follows a vaguely Hispano-Asio fishcake recipe. The salad is after one I first had at Red Sage, when I lived in DC in the 90's...

For about 6 fishcakes, you'll need:

2 smoked trout fillets (or mackerel, or snoek, or angelfish)

2 slices white bread, no crusts, soaked in milk and squeezed out lightly

2 small potatoes, cooked and cut into cubish things

2 spring onions (scallions) finely sliced

1 very finely diced shallot

a strip of ancho chile, soaked, about 4" x 1" (yeah, I know) and thinly sliced

juice of a small lime or lemon

1 heaping tablespoon thick plain yoghurt, preferably Greek

In a bowl put the trout, which you have removed from the skin and flaked, plus all the other ingredients. Mix with your hands. Because the trout is smoked you will probably not need to add salt, but taste in case ...

Pour some flour onto a plate. Form fish mixture into round cakes, coating each one with flour as you go. Put aside on a clean plate and chill them for a little while to firm up.

Make salad:

1 avocado

1 small papaya/papino

1/2 a mango

All cut into chunks

1 scallion (spring onion), finely sliced; a sprig of fresh mint, sliced into thin strips (chiffonade); a tiny handful of cilantro; shake of hot chile flakes, salt, juice of 1 lime or lemon.

Put everything into a bowl and toss. Serve this on the same plate as the fishcakes.

To finish the fishcakes, fry them in a little olive oil over medium heat, about 4 minutes to a side till golden and crispy on the outside. Turn once.

I also used Mrs Ball's chutney as a condiment. See if you can find it. It is incomparable.