Kipper patties

I needed fried food to fit in with the Chanukah theme of a recent party and Nigel Slater saved the day.  Usually on Chanukah, the fried food are latkes or sufganiyot (donuts).  I like to be different, so opted for Kipper Patties.

• Floury potatoes - 500g
• Butter - a thick slice
• Kipper fillets - 440g
• Dill - a small, chopped handful
• Flour for dusting
• Groundnut oil for shallow frying

Peel and boil the potatoes until they are soft enough to be mashed.  Once boiled, put them in a mixer with the butter and buzz them until you have a smooth but firm consistency.

Put the kipper fillets in a bowl or jug and pour over boiling water.  Leave to sit in the water for ten minutes, until you are able to flake the flesh.  Try not to turn the flesh into mash, leave them in postage stamp sized pieces.

Combine the fish with the warmed potato, the dill and season with salt and pepper.  Let the mixture cool and then shape into patties.  Once that is done, leave the patties to cool further and therefore stiffen.  As you'll see from the list of ingredients above, Nigel recommends using flour, I decided to be a smart alek and used matzo meal instead - I'm sure flour does the job just as well.  Once dusted, fry in hot oil for about five minutes, don't forget to turn them.  Nigel recommends a dill mayonnaise.  I decided to go for a smoked paprika mayo instead, the pepperiness of the mayo playing off the saltiness of the smoked fish.  It seemed to work nicely.  Again these were too popular to take photos of.  This recipe serves 4 as a main course, I made my patties very small.