The Vic Public House’s smoked fish cakes

Fish cake

1. Bake the whole potato in an oven at 200°C for 45 minutes.
2. Cut the potato in half and scoop out the inside (keep the potato skins to deep-fry for crispy potato skins). In a bowl, add the cheddar, cream and butter to the potato, mash and season to taste.
3. Add the smoked fish (for Seafood Saturday, The Vic used orange roughy they hot-smoked), gherkins, dill, capers and lemon juice to the mashed potato and mix in.
4. Form the fish-potato mixture into a 240g ball. Squash down slightly to create a patty.
5. Set up your crumbing station with the beaten egg wash in a bowl, flour in another bowl and Panko crumbs in a third bowl. Dip the fish cake in egg wash, then flour, back into the egg wash then into the Panko. For extra crispiness, dip in egg and panko once again.
6. Heat the oil to roughly 175°C in a deep-sided pan. Fry the fish cake for about 10 mins or until golden, flipping halfway through. Set to the side on some paper towels to drain.

Roasted cherry tomatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place tomatoes in roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Put the whole garlic cloves and rosemary sprig in with the tomatoes. Roast for 20 mins.
2. Once roasted, squash the tomatoes with a fork (they will be hot and they will burst, so be careful).

Hollandaise sauce

1. Melt the butter in a small pan.
2. Add the egg yolks, lemon juice, Dijon and salt to a blender and blend until smooth. Slowly add the melted butter, blending until emulsified.

(Note: Store-bought Hollandaise will work just fine here, if you prefer.) 

Poached egg

1. Bring a pot of water to a simmer. Add the white wine vinegar and a pinch of salt.
2. Stir the water so it forms a vortex in the middle and crack an egg into the centre (this will wrap the white around the yolk and help it cook evenly). Cook for about 2–3 minutes, then scoop up the egg and set it aside on a paper towel to drain excess water.

Build the dish

Place dollop of Hollandaise in centre of a plate wider than the fish cake and place the fish cake on top of Hollandaise. Put roasted cherry tomatoes on top of fish cake, and a poached egg on top.

Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, balsamic reduction and chopped chives, to taste.

Boom – smoked fish cakes!