Perhaps it’s the fact that we haven’t had a holiday in well over a year and it’s not looking much like we will be having one anytime soon, but recently (and a recent meal) I’ve been thinking about holidays from my youth. Growing up in South Africa, holidays usually meant driving from where we lived (Windhoek, Johannesburg, Knysna) to stay with my Grandparents in Cape Town. Occasionally, Granny and grandad would drive to where we lived and once we drove to meet in the Northern Cape and then went round Namibia together but usually, we drove to Cape Town. In case you are unfamiliar with the South African landscape, the shortest of those drives is 500kms and it was always during summer and I don’t think any of our cars had air con! At least I don’t remember air conditioning being anything more than opening the window and often the air outside was just as hot as it was inside the car!

There are many things I loved about staying at Granny and Grandads but there are a few things that really stand out. One of these was Grandad’s breakfast. This was legendary for a few reasons:

• The breakfast table was always set in full – I’m talking full cutlery, place mats, fruit juice, tea, coffee etc (akin to what we see now in Netflix documentaries about Royals)
• It started with Granny ‘doing’ half a grapefruit for everyone – this involves cutting out around each half segment and eating it straight from the skin with a grapefruit spoon (this is an actual thing and I have a set)

• Grandad never cooked apart from breakfast
• Grandad made the most monumental mess which was always followed by Granny saying ‘Oh Donald’ very loudly and in an exasperated voice
• It was always fried
• I often got one of my absolute favourite things – lambs kidneys

Then of course, there was fishcake day. Fishcake day was brilliant. It always followed a night when Granny had made fish for dinner (usually kingklip or hake probably) and potatoes. Grandad would use these simple ingredients and make the most amazing fishcakes to have with our eggs and other fried breakfast stuff! I loved those fishcakes. Last week , I found myself in the position of having a leftover fishcake in the fridge and some lovely fresh eggs from happy hens up the road. This fuelled my childhood nostalgia and I feel the need to share!

Poached eggs on fishcakes

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Stuff you will need – food processor, frying pan, small pot of boiling water, slotted spoon. This recipe is an adaptation of his Holiness JO’s Swedish Fishcakes from his 30 minute meals book.

Ingredients:

1 x bag of raw, shelled prawns (200g ish)
300g skinless and boneless cod / hake / haddock
200g skinless and boneless salmon
Handful of flat leaf parsley
2 slices of stale / crusty bread (or the equivalent in breadcrumbs)
1 lemon
1 clove garlic
salt & pepper
Olive oil
1 egg per fishcake
Garlic Farm Thai sweet chilli and garlic sauce (optional but highly recommended)

Makes approx 6- 8 fishcakes

Method:

• Whiz the bread in the food processor until fine. Unless you already have breadcrumbs – then ignore this bit and move on. Tear off a large sheet of tin foil or just use a big plate or board. Put the breadcrumbs on top, then put to one side.
• Add all the fish and prawns to the food processor. Finely grate in the zest of 1 lemon and rip in the parsley leaves, discarding the stalks. Add a really good pinch of salt and pepper and pulse a few times until coarsely mixed
• Tip the fish mix into a bowl and add 2 heaped tablespoons of the breadcrumbs. Scrunch and mix with your clean hands, then divide into 6-8 patties.
• Place on top of the remaining breadcrumbs, making sure the cakes are of even thicknesses, then turn them over to coat them in the breadcrumbs
• Put a large frying pan on a medium heat and add a good couple of glugs of olive oil. Crush the clove of garlic into the pan. When the garlic sizzles, transfer the fish cakes to the pan. Cook for about 7 minutes on each side until lovely and golden.
• While the fishcakes are cooking, you will need to poach your eggs (you can of course fry them too). I like to get on a pot of salted, boiling water and using the handle of a wooden spoon, stir the water to create a whirlpool. Now, while the water is whirling, quickly crack each egg into the water from just above the surface. Try and keep the water moving and that will help keep the whites neatly round the yolks. I feel like I should do a video demo here…….. Cook for about 4 mins and then take each egg out using a slotted spoon. Drain the excess water on a clean piece of kitchen roll or one of those blue jay cloth things James Martin uses on Saturday Kitchen.

Assemble – one poached egg on a fishcake and a liberal addition of the sweet chilli sauce. Enjoy You can of course have the fishcakes for dinner with some rice or even oven fries (it is lockdown after all) and veggies and snaffle one away for breakfast like I did!

In other news:

• Well, we are back to work and home learning. This time round is trickier as ACOD is now in big school so we have 3 to manage. Five year olds are simply not meant to learn through a computer (actually kids in general aren’t but it is so much harder for the smallies). The school is amazing but she is now a full time job. Which is of course difficult on top of a full time job. This is ACOD in online school action.

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• COVID and lockdown continues to dominate every topic of conversation. It’s boring, I’m over it and I miss hugging and eating out and seeing friends. I have decided that if social gatherings are allowed in July, this year’s birthday party is going to be so epic that the cops will be called. I will simply invite them to join us. I mean a big, fun, drunk, noisy, huggy, neighbour-annoying party.
• As a result of this latest lockdown drama, I am back baking bread. It is so much nicer than shop bought stuff
• We have cat issues – Lion-O has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and Simba with diabetes. I will be getting my vet qualifications shortly as I master injecting insulin into a squirmy cat and administering Thyronorm twice a day to another. Lion-O appears quite happy with his lot in life though. Simba is still quite miserable.
• It’s hard to believe it’s nearing the time of year when I need to start planning the veggies for 2021. I kept a few seeds from last year but not sure my heart is in it as much. I still haven’t cleared the beds from last year
• On a more positive note (I realise I’m not my usual enthusiastic self today), since the only thing we can do with ‘one other person from outside your household’ is exercise, I have been running a lot. I am aiming for 1000Kms in 2021, 100kms of that in Jan and running every day in January. It’s all going well except as I write this it is cold, windy and losing light outside and I really don’t fancy going out but run I must…….
• I have an epic crew of running friends and even a training coach keeping me on track. COD and I do online pilates with the incredible Emily at Sussex Physiotherapy and so I am fitter than I have ever been. I have to be to deal with the quantity of jelly babies, marshmallows and other snacks I am consuming!

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