Considering the abundance of recipes overflowing from my kitchen cupboard, one would think that I’d kick the year off with something a little more shoo-wow than fish cakes. Even if the recipe did promise they would be as good as your gran used to wish she could make. But there was something appealing about making a humble fish cake the way a chef would do it. So in true me style, I took this Master Class recipe, swore hand on heart I would follow it to the letter, and then promptly changed it to suit my new need-to-shrink-a-dress-size and need-to-clear-the-clutter-from-my-life resolutions. The fishcakes themselves were no great shakes so I haven’t even included them, but the sauce was yummy!
(Adapted from the January 2011 Food & Home Entertaining recipe by chef Jodi-Ann Pearton)
- 75ml good quality mayonnaise (OK, I lie. The recipe said good quality mayo, but I had some Cross & Blackwell (sorry Cross & Blackwell) I needed to finish, so I used that and I actually really liked the sweet tartness it added to the sauce.)
- 75ml cottage cheese and enough milk to get the consistency you like once the sauce is done
- 15ml green peppercorns (A horrific incident with a day old pepper steak pie in my student days means that I steer way clear of pepper, so I omitted this.)
- 15ml creamed horseradish (fresh out, so substituted wasabi)
- 15ml Dijon mustard
- ¼ onion, very finely chopped
- 5ml flat leaf parsley
- 2,5ml lemon zest
- Chuck all the ingredients in a blender and whizz till smooth or just stir together if you prefer something a little chunkier. Serve with fish cakes or just about anything that could do with a creamy dipping sauce.