Angelfish Fishcakes

flickr cc {chooyutshing}

You know how life goes, one minute you're up, employed and struggling along from day to day, and the next, you're tossing around in the sea of unemployment, trying desperately to hold onto something familiar. Such has been my life for the past month, as I try to navigate the steps into the next stage of my life.

Sometimes I want to buck the shackles of full time employment, strike out on my own, and try to make a living off my wits and skills. Then my doubts crawl back into bed with me, and I'm convinced I'll never be able to make it work, I'll just live like a leech off my poor, long-suffering husband forever. So at the moment, I'm trying hard to come up with ways to make some bucks on the side, in my semi-employed state, and try to toss around ideas for what will come next. To that end, I've been applying to countless jobs - full time, part-time, freelance, and everything in between. I've been for a couple of interviews, but only one I really want. So while I wait to hear how that turns out, my thoughts turned to comfort, and for me, you may have realised, comfort equals food.

This is the second half of a batch of angelfish I got from Ocean Jewels Fish. I pan-fried these in seasoned cornflour at the suggestion of Jenny Morris, and while that was delicious, my sister was coming over for dinner, and we all know how she feels about fish.. So I took some of the fillets, and flaked them to create some absolutely divine fishcakes. These fishcakes were all about softness and subtlety, allowing the flavours of the angelifish to shine, while not being 'too fishy' for my fussy sister to deal with. This was an all round favourite, and one I can heartily recommend.

Angelfish Fishcakes (or Angelfishcakes, but that's a bit awkward)

Ingredients:
1 fillet angelfish
± 2 tbsp cornflour
1 egg, lightly beaten
olive oil for frying
salt and pepper to season
2 large potatoes, washed
3-5 spring onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp chilli jam (or 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and 1 tbsp apricot jam)
± 2 tbsp flour

Method:

1. Spread the cornflour on a plate and mix with some salt and pepper to season.
2. Dip the fish fillets in the flour to season, then dip in the egg, and back in the flour.
3. Heat some olive oil in a pan, and pan fry the fillets in the olive oil until lightly golden, and cooked through, about 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fillets.
4. Remove to a plate, and allow to cool.
5. Meanwhile, prick 2 potatoes all over with a fork, and bake in the microwave for 10-15 minutes.
6. Allow to cool, slice in half, and scoop out the baked flesh into a bowl.
7. Flake the cooled fish into the same bowl, and mix them together.
8. Add the spring onion, and stir. If necessary to bind, add some of the egg from your egg wash, but the fish is quite moist, and I didn't find I needed the egg.
9. Stir through the chilli jam, and taste for seasoning (if you haven't added the raw egg, there's nothing raw, so the mixture is perfectly safe to eat). Add more seasoning, or more jam if necessary, to taste.
10. Add a little flour, and mix, and flour your hands. Scoop tablespoonfuls out, and form them into little flat patties with your hands, rolling them in a little flour.
11. Set aside on a plate in the fridge for 10 minutes to set.
12. Heat some olive oil in a pan, and fry until light golden.
13. Serve hot

 These were delicious with some salad and sweet potato fries, but they'd also work well as an appetiser dipped in aioli, or just as a snack. It's a little bit of PT to make these from scratch, but the next time you find you have leftover fish, this is a brilliant way to use up the leftovers.

Enjoy!