Cook | Mackerel and samphire fishcakes

Samphire is summer on a plate. Try these with a vibrant Green Goddess sauce

These delicious fishcakes can be made with foraged samphire, which is all over mudflats and estuaries at this time of year. But feel free to buy it from Waitrose or fishmongers if you had a less active lunch in mind. You can also buy samphire plants to grow from specialist nurseries. Plant next year in April or May for a crop in summer. Make the Green Goddess sauce before you go if you’re off foraging and keep it in a tightly sealed jar.

300g new potatoes

2 tbsp soured cream

A couple of knobs of butter

250g smoked mackerel fillets

A handful of samphire, washed and chopped

A few tbsp plain flour

Lemon to squeeze over for the dressing

2 anchovies

1 clove crushed garlic

5 tbsp mayonnaise

5 tbsp sour cream

A handful of parsley leaves

handful of tarragon leaves

A bunch of chives

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain, add the soured cream, a knob of butter and a few grinds of black pepper and mash roughly, so there are still plenty of bigger chunks. Set aside to cool.

2 Flake the mackerel fillets into the potatoes, again leaving plenty of larger pieces, and add the samphire. Form into little patties and transfer to the fridge to firm up.

3 Meanwhile make the dressing. Put all the ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth and green. Taste and season as required. The dressing will keep in a jar in the fridge for up to one week.

4 Put the flour on a plate, then roll the chilled fishcakes in the flour. Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan and fry the fishcakes until nicely browned on both sides. Serve hot with lemon and the green goddess dressing.

This recipe is from Lia Leendertz’s foraging feature in our June issue, which has lots more samphire recipes in it from a light lunch idea to a fresh sea vegetable and seafood dashi, as well as information on where to find samphire and how to cook it.

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More from our June issue…

More foraging ideas for throughout the year…

Recipe | Samphire frittata with warm lemony courgette salad

A quick veggie supper after a day by the sea; marsh samphire can be foraged or bought locally in summer.

It grows on muddy, sandy flats often on estuaries or creeks. Simply pinch out or snip off the tops to leave the rest of the plant to grow. Samphire is usually served with fish but also goes beautifully with eggs.

Serves 4
FOR THE COURGETTE SALAD
150g runner beans, sliced on the diagonal
3 tbsp olive oil
Shallots, sliced
Yellow courgettes (or green if you can’t find them), halved and cut into chunky slices
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6 small vine-ripened tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
2 rounded tbsp chopped oregano leaves
Juice of 1⁄2 lemon

FOR THE FRITTATA
250g new potatoes, sliced
2 tbsp sunflower oil
6 large eggs, beaten
50g samphire
Handful of tarragon, leaves finely shredded
100g soft goats’ cheese

1 To make the courgette salad, steam the runner beans for 5 mins or until tender. Refresh the beans under cold running water and put to one side.
2 Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook the shallots for 5 mins until softened. Add the courgettes and garlic, and fry for 3 mins. Stir in the tomatoes, half the oregano and the lemon juice, then reduce the heat slightly and cook
for 5 mins or until the courgettes are just tender but retain a little bite, and the tomatoes have started to break down.
3 Stir in the runner beans, add the remaining olive oil, and season with salt and pepper, then warm through. Keep the salad warm while you make the frittata.
4 Put the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 mins or until tender, then drain in a colander.
5 Heat the sunflower oil in an ovenproof frying pan. Add the drained potatoes, and the
beaten eggs, most of the samphire and the tarragon. Lay the remaining samphire elegantly on the top. Crumble over the goats’ cheese and season with salt and pepper (remembering the salty flavour of the samphire, so you won’t need much salt).
6 Preheat your grill. Cook the frittata for 7–10 mins on the hob over a medium heat, enough to set the bottom, then finish under the grill until just set all the way through. Add the remaining oregano leaves to the salad and serve it warm with the frittata.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here.

More from the June issue:

More summer recipes: