Smoked Fishcakes with Gribiche Sauce, Poached Egg, and Asparagus

Ok, so here's how it is.

Fat Freddy's Drop stole my idea... Paua wontons.

I've been brewing this one for a year and a half. And then I find out that the band have a just launched promo video of them making em.

Sigh. There goes my future signature dish.

But I guess, you snooze you lose. So in aid of that the first attempt was made this weekend. We had a few friends over for a Sunday bbq, and feasted! I mean, really feasted. We had paua wontons, Matt's amazing paua fritters, whitebait fritters (heavy on the whitebait, thanks to my amazing friends PJ, Shan and Alla who brought this amazing treat), and smoked fishcakes. I can't imagine a better early summer bbq dinner.

While my paua wontons were good, they weren't quite what I imagined. I will continue that crusade, and let you know when I have the perfect recipe. I can, however, say that they were eaten while listening to Fat Freddy's with much relish.

The smoked fishcakes however, were something definitely worth blogging about. I re-created these bad boys tonight for dinner, serving them much like a version we used to have at Trade Kitchen, with pan roasted asparagus, a gribiche sauce, and a poached egg, and I almost licked my plate it was so good.

A gribiche sauce is a kind of fancy tartare sauce, but so much more. It is amazing dolloped on pan roasted fish, and perfect with most kinds of seafood fritters, or thrown into a spicy fish taco. I added garlic to my version to kick it all up a notch.

Smoked Fishcakes with Gribiche Sauce (Serves 4)

For the gribiche sauce
1 boiled egg
1T  capers or caperberries
1T parsley
1T tarragon
1 clove garlic
1t wholegrain mustard
1/4c mayo
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2T olive oil
2T water
Salt and pepper to taste


For the smoked fishcakes
1/4 small kumara (sweet potato), diced
25g butter
Oil for frying
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
50g bacon or salami, pancetta, mild chorizo etc, finely chopped
1/2 stick of celery, finely chopped
1/4 red capsicum, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
240g smoked fish - we gently smoked some butterfish which Matt caught the other day
1/3c milk
1/4c good quality (preferably home made mayo)
1 egg yolk
1 1/4c dried breadcrumbs
25g butter
4 eggs if you're serving this with poached eggs
2 bundles of asparagus
1 clove of garlic

Make the gribiche first - just chuck everything in the blender and whiz until smooth. Add a little more water and/or oil if you need it, just so it sauces up nicely.

Start the fishcakes by getting the kumara on the boil. When it's soft, drain and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, melt the butter with a splash of oil in a pan. Once it's nice and warm, add the onion, bacon and celery, and sautee for a couple of minutes or until translucent. Try not to colour it up too much. Add the garlic and capsicum, and sautee for another minute or two.

Put the kumara into a large bowl and mash until smooth (it doesn't have to be perfect though). Add the sauteed mix and smoked fish, and using your hands (preferably, washed first), mix it up until it's all evenly distributed. Add the milk, mayo, egg yolk, and mix again. Finally, add up to 1/4c of the breadcrumbs, until it forms a nice patty consistency - you want something akin to thick mashed potatoes, or a burger patty. It will be wet, but not sloppy.

Sprinkle the rest of the breadcrumbs onto a plate. Form the mix into four patties no more than 2cm thick. Turn gently over in the breadcrumbs to coat, and set aside on a plate.

If you're doing this with poached eggs, get some water to the boil now! Are you serving with pan roasted asparagus? If so, get a pan on a medium heat with a splash of oil.

Pop a knob of butter (25g or so) in a pan, and bring to a medium-high heat. Gently fry the patties until golden underneath. Gently flip them over to brown on the other side.

When you turn the patties over, put your asparagus into the pan with singly clove of garlic which has been squished with the flat side of a kitchen knife. Toss in the pan occasionally.

When your fishcakes are done, turn off the heat under the pot of boiling water to stop it boiling, and slide the eggs into the water. Cover, and set your timer for 2 minutes. Plate up everything else.

Pop the eggs on top of the fishcakes, and top with the gribiche sauce.