Recipe corner: Tuna melt fish cakes

Many people might start this recipe by suggesting it as an excellent use for leftover mash and to them I would say - I never have extra mash. If I make too make mash then I eat too much mash. God, I love mash.

My sister in law, who has a way with potatoes, got us on to making mash by pushing the spuds through a sieve. This method will produce the smoothest, silkiest mash that ever there was. You’d achieve a similar effect with a ricer but I don’t know...something about the sieve method is preferable. Maybe it’s because the additional effort you end up putting in adds a subtle seasoning to the finished product. I should add, however, that it is harder to sieve cold potatoes, so take the time and trouble to make the mash when the potatoes are just cooked.

These fish cakes were thrown together rather, but many of the best dishes are. The thing is, I had planned to cook jacket spuds for tea, but when I actually investigated the potato bag, I had three rather shrivelled, sprouty littleuns that would not have been fit for purpose. This was a more than acceptable alternative that made use of store cupboard ingredients, thus meaning that I did not have to nip out for shopping - after the day I’d had, it is quite likely that a bottle of wine or five would have fallen into the basket. And that would NEVER do.

Ingredients

250g potatoes (raw weight) peeled and thinly sliced
10g butter
50g half fat Cheddar cheese, grated
Heaped tsp English mustard

Can of tuna in brine or spring water, drained
4-5 heaped tablespoons non fat plain yoghurt
Small handful of capers in brine, drained and chopped
2-3 spring onions, finely chopped
Tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp dried chervil

25g plain flour

Serves 2, 9 Smart Points (WW Flex) per portion

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with cold water, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Simmer for around 10 minutes or until soft and yielding to the point of a knife.

While the potatoes cook, combine the tuna with the yoghurt, capers, spring onions and herbs and season. You want the consistency to be fairly loose so add more yogurt if necessary - fat free plain yogurt is zero point on Flex, so it won’t make a difference to the total.

Drain the potatoes into a sieve and then push them through said sieve back into the pan. Return it to a low heat and stir through the butter, cheese, mustard and seasoning until everything is smooth and incorporated.

Combine the potatoes with the tuna mix.

Sprinkle the flour on a large plate and on to your hands, and shape the mix into six small cakes. Coat them well in the flour and then cover and chill for at least an hour.

Fry in a good non stick pan (use a few sprays of oil if necessary) for 5 minutes or so on either side until warmed through and crisp of crust.

Serve with...well, I went with salad but I am never sure what is the best accompaniment for fish cakes. Let me know if you have any ideas.