Smoked Trout Frikkadels with Tartare Sauce

Make your fishcakes out of smoked trout and you can serve this most humble of dishes any time, anywhere. By Lannice Snyman.Frikkadels – a lovely old-fashioned word that many of us grew up with – refers both to meatballs and fishcakes. Big, plump ones are fab for family dinners, while smaller ones are good to serve with pre-prandial drinks when friends pop in for supper.

Any fish can be used: freshly cooked for the occasion, left-over from a baked or braaied beastie – even tinned tuna or pilchards if all else fails. But posher smoked trout has a certain elegance and succulence that is hard to beat. Tartare sauce, a classic accompaniment to all seafood, is perfect on the side. It’s a breeze to rustle up from ingredients that you should have at hand, yet the recipe is tragically wrecked by all but the most meticulous of cooks. The secret is in the mayonnaise: only the best quality, thick mayo will do. If you’re a dab hand at making your own, so much the better.

Charred limes are bliss for squeezing over your frikkadels: cut a couple in half, brush generously with olive oil and grill in a heavy frying pan until lightly charred and smoky.

Smoked Trout Frikkadels with Tartare Sauce
Makes about 12; serves 4 to 6

500g smoked trout fillets
sea salt and milled black pepper
300g potatoes, peeled and diced
4 T finely chopped onion
3 T chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 t turmeric (borrie)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
small bunch coriander, chopped
(use the leaves and trimmed stems)
1 t roasted masala (recipe follows)
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon or lime
vegetable oil, for frying

Skin and flake the trout, jettisoning all the bones.
Place in a large bowl and season generously with salt
and pepper.
Cook the potato in salted boiling water.
Drain well and mash.
Mix in the fish, onion, parsley, turmeric, egg, coriander
and roasted masala, and flavour with lemon or lime juice
and a little salt and pepper.
Form into patties, flattening them slightly between your palms.

To serve
Fry the frikkadels in hot oil until crisp and well browned.
This should only take a few minutes, as the ingredients
are already cooked.
Serve hot or at room temperature with tartare
sauce on the side
and char-grilled limes for squeezing.
TARTARE SAUCE

1 cup good quality mayonnaise
1 hard-boiled egg, finely chopped
2 t dijon mustard
1 T drained capers

Mix the ingredients together in a small bowl. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Make-ahead tip
Frikkadels should be fried shortly before serving, but the uncooked mixture may be refrigerated for a day. Tartare sauce is fine for an hour or two; keep covered in fridge.

ROASTED MASALA

This zingy spice is readily available at supermarkets, but home-made is by far the best. It is also great in curries as well as a spice rub for steak and chops for a braai.
In a heavy frying pan, dry roast 150g coriander seeds, 125g cumin seeds, 50g dried red chillies, 25g black peppercorns, 2 crumbled cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons whole cloves and 1 tablespoon crushed cardamom pods. Pound fairly finely in a pestle and mortar, then mix in 25g turmeric (borrie) and 25g ground ginger. Store in a bottle in the fridge for up to six months.

Lannice Snyman is one of South Africa’s most experienced and well-respected food writers. For more recipes like this, see her book Posh Nosh – Fabulous Food for Family and Friends (Lannice Snyman Publishers, 2005).