Fish scrap croquettes
By:
Emily Gussin
Food producer and sustainability lead, delicious.
- Published: 3 Jul 24
- Updated: 23 Jul 24
These herby croquettes filled with fluffy mashed potato and surrounded by a crisp breadcrumb coating are the perfect vehicle for any scraps of fish you have left over from trimming fillets or filleting whole fish. You could also use leftover cooked fish. However you make them, they’re just the thing to serve with a chilled glass of white in the garden with friends.
Check out more delicious ways to cut down on food waste in our sustainable recipes hub.
Before you start
When you buy a whole fish or ask a fishmonger for the head and bones along with the fillets, it’s easy to find extra meat to be used in these croquettes. There’s often meat left at the base of the tail and on the head. Cod cheeks are common on restaurant menus but most fish have these, however small – just below the eyes. Use a spoon to scrape the meat from the bones. You can use any fish or a mixture.
If you don’t have enough scraps, you can combine the fish trimmings with (drained) tinned sardines or mackerel.
Ingredients
- 300g floury potatoes (such as king edward or maris piper), cut into 2cm cubes – no need to peel
- 150-200g fish trimmings and scraps (see Before You Start)
- 20g salted butter
- 10g soft herbs (chives, dill, parsley…), finely chopped
- Finely grated zest 1 lemon (then cut the lemon into wedges to serve)
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 medium free-range egg, lightly beaten
- 40g panko breadcrumbs
- Sunflower oil for frying
For the saffron dip
- Large pinch saffron threads
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp greek yogurt
Method
- Put the potato cubes in a pan of salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15-18 minutes until very tender. Meanwhile, sprinkle the fish trimmings and scraps with a good pinch of salt and put in a sieve over a bowl to drain for 10 minutes.
- While the fish is draining, make the dip. Put the saffron threads in a small bowl with 1 tbsp just-boiled water and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, mayo and yogurt. Season and set aside.
- Once the potatoes are tender, drain well, add the butter and mash until creamy. Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the fish, herbs and lemon zest. Use wet hands to roll heaped tablespoons of the potato mixture into 3-4cm logs.
- Put the flour, egg and breadcrumbs in separate shallow bowls. Roll each fish log in turn in flour to coat, then in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs. Transfer to a plate, then chill for 15 minutes.
- Put a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat, add 1.5cm oil, then heat until a crumb sizzles and turns golden in 5 seconds. Fry the croquettes in batches for 6-7 minutes, turning halfway through, until deeply golden all over. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a wire rack sitting over a tray to drain.
- Leave to cool for 5 minutes before serving the croquettes with the saffron dip and lemon wedges for squeezing over.
- Recipe from July 2024 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 67kcals
- Fat
- 2.9g (1g saturated)
- Protein
- 3.4g
- Carbohydrates
- 6.6g (no sugars)
- Fibre
- 0.5g
- Salt
- 0.1g
delicious. tips
You can freeze the croquettes instead of chilling them at the end of step 4 – spread them out on a tray to freeze, then transfer to a food bag when frozen. Fry from frozen, adding 2 minutes to the cooking time. Or freeze them once cooked and reheat from frozen in a medium oven. They’ll keep, frozen, for up to 3 months.
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