Speedy spice magic
Making a meal in a hurry needn’t mean sacrificing flavour. Reach for the ready-mixed spice blends to revitalise your everyday cooking
RECIPES: KATY MCCLELLAND.
1 Spiced fishcakes with ‘rice and peas’ (bean) salad
Quick fish supper
PHOTOGRAPHS: CLARE WINFIELD. FOOD STYLING: JESS MEYER. STYLING: LAUREN MILLER
FLAVOUR SECRET
Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica as well as the name of the spice blend used in it. Key ingredients include allspice, thyme, cloves and scotch bonnet chillies. Use it to flavour chicken, lamb, goat – and these fishcakes.
Serves 4
Hands-on
time 20 min
Simmering
time 12-15 min
EASY SWAPS
Use gluten-free flour or cornflour for dusting if you’re cooking for a gluten-free diet.
• 400g floury potatoes (such as maris piper), cut into small chunks
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 450g sustainable white fish (such as coley or hake), skin-on if possible
• 3 tsp jerk seasoning
• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp plain flour, plus 30g
• ¼-1 tsp chilli powder (to taste)
• 250g cooked rice of your choice
• 400g tin kidney beans, rinsed
• Grated zest and juice 2 limes
• Small bunch coriander, leaves and stalks roughly chopped, or 40g watercress
1 Bring a medium pan of water to the boil, add the potatoes and cook for 12-15 minutes until tender. Turn off the heat, drain, tip back into the pan to steam dry for 5 minutes, then mash.
2 Meanwhile, add 1 tbsp of the oil to a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Fry the fish, skin side down, for about 4 minutes, then turn and cook for 2 minutes or until just cooked through.
Peel off and discard the skin, then flake the fish into the mash. Add 1 tsp jerk seasoning, most of the spring onions and 1 tbsp flour. Season and mix well.