Lizzy Nichol provides the fifth of 26 recipes for our newsletter to help power your writerly life. Today, fishcake and chips for brains that feel like jelly.
Well stick a fork in me, I’m done.
What a day.
My brain feels like jelly. Pink and wibbly. And melty round the edges.
No, like porridge. Cold, gloopy porridge.
I feel like I’ve been plucked and stuffed.
Marinated and slow roasted.
I’ve been so well battered and fried, you could serve me with chips.
What’s for dinner?
Makes eight
What you need:
Three fillets of white fish (I used tilapia), diced
Half a head of cauliflower
1/2 cup of rolled oats
1 small white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp mustard
1 handful of dill, finely chopped
Zest of one lemon
Salt and pepper
1 tsp oil for frying
2–3 sweet potatoes
A pinch of paprika
How to do it:
Pre-heat the oven to about 180°C. Put a frying pan on a low heat and add your onion with a pinch of salt to stop it burning. When it’s turned translucent (about five minutes) add the garlic and continue to fry for another five minutes or so. In the meantime, put your cauliflower in the food processor and whiz up until you have something that resembles a fine rice.
Empty the cauli into a big bowl. Add the diced fish, oats, mustard, dill, lemon zest, salt and pepper, then your onions and garlic, and mash everything up with your hands. Shape into balls and place on an oiled baking tray.
Cut three sweet potatoes into slices, tip them into a baking dish, coat in oil (I use coconut oil), a sprinkle of paprika and a pinch of salt. Then put them in the oven at the same time as the fishcakes. Both should take about 30 minutes to get lovely and crispy on the outside and soft and silky in the centre. Enjoy!