Mustard Fishcakes with a Crunchy Pear and Pomegranate Salad

We love fishcakes and whenever I make them from scratch, we normally go for the Thai version. I decided to adapt my usual recipe and make mustard fishcakes.

The weather has been lovely recently and I thought a colourful salad would go well with the crispy fishcakes. I recently had a nice sweet and sour salad in a restaurant and decided to go with some of its ingredients.

Rocket has a lot of flavour with its delicate, peppery leaves, and it works really well with pears that are not ripe enough to be enjoyed as dessert and sprinkled with sweet, juicy pomegranate.

Hubby and I loved our fishcakes and salad for lunch. Beanie and Crevette only had the fishcakes as their main course, but I reserved some of the pear cut in small pieces and pomegranate seeds for their dessert. They loved their improvised fruit salad, especially Jumpy who could have eaten the whole pomegranate all by herself!

To be perfectly honest, until I put these recipes together, I had not had pomegranate in years as I normally find it such a tedious job to deseed the delicious fruit, but I was determined to use it in my recipe and not turn my kitchen in a scene comparable to a horror film in the process. Let us just say that pomegranate can stain (clothes, walls etc.). I watched a couple of tutorials online and I have included a quick summary of how to proceed in the recipe below.

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Crunchy Pear and Pomegranate Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

A 'Free From' Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 400 g skinless cod fillet
• 2 tablespoons French Mustard
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 1/8 th teaspoon crushed Maldon sea salt flakes or fleur de sel de Guérande
• 1 heaped teaspoon dark brown muscovado unrefined cane sugar
• 80 g French beans
• 1 tablespoon fresh coriander chopped
• 1 red chilli pepper deseeded and chopped finely
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 lime quartered

Crunchy Pear and Pomegranate Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons cider Vinegar with Honey
• 1 teaspoon Mustard with Honey and Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 pomegranate
• Four handfuls of rocket salad
• 2 crunchy pears

Instructions

1. Make sure no bones are left in the cod and cut it into large cubes before placing it in a mixer to chop it roughly. Add the mustard, beaten egg, cornflour, salt and sugar and blend.
2. Chop the French beans finely and add them to the mixture, along with the coriander and the chilli. Stir well.
3. Cover the mixer bowl and refrigerate for an hour.
4. In the meantime, get your vinaigrette ready and reserve it. In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. It will need a quick stir just before serving.
5. De-seed your pomegranate:
6. - Cut the fruit in quarters and place them in a large bowl in your sink. Loosen the seeds of each quarter by twisting them, making sure the seeds are aimed towards the bowl (not you!).
7. - Using a large wooden spoon, hit the back of each quarter to release more seeds. Use your fingers to dislodge the rest of the seeds.
8. - Remove all pieces of membrane from the bowl.
9. - Add water to the bowl and stir to wash the seeds. Remaining pieces of membrane will come to the surface of the water and be easier to spot.
10. Wash and quarter the pears. Remove their core and slice them.
11. Carefully place a handful of washed rocket salad on each plate. Dispose pear slices on the salad, sprinkle pomegranate on top.
12. Roll the fishcake mixture into twelve small balls before flattening with the palm of your hand.
13. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over a high heat for about two minutes to ensure it is very hot. Cook your fishcakes in batches of six, ensuring they are not touching each other. They will need between three and four minutes on each side. They should have a golden colour and be cooked thoroughly. Keep your cooked fishcakes between several layers of kitchen towel on a plate.
14. Serve the fishcakes with lime wedges and the Crunchy Pear and Pomegranate Salad.

Recipe Notes

Serve the vinaigrette separately so your guests can decide how much or how little they want.