Recipe: Ham Cakes with Parsley Sauce

Once you know how to make this scrumptious meal, you’ll want it again and again

With this hearty and wholesome dish, food writer Kitty Coles proves that delicious dinners don’t have to be complicated.

Makes 10

Ingredients:

750g floury potatoes, such as Maris Pipers or King Edwards, peeled and cut into 2 cm ¾ inch) chunks (or 650g leftover boiled potatoes)
200g ham hock or sliced ham, chopped
25g parsley leaves, chopped
Bunch of spring onions (scallions), chopped
2 tbsp capers, drained, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 egg, beaten
1 x quantity of Parsley Sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For coating and frying

100g plain (all-purpose) flour
200g fresh, dried or panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten
3–4 tbsp neutral oil
25g salted butter

Method:

If cooking the potatoes from scratch, put them into a saucepan with enough water to cover and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to the boil and cook for 12–15 minutes until soft, then drain and set aside to steam dry and cool in the colander for at least 5 minutes. The potatoes need to be very dry for this recipe, so let them steam for as long as you can.

Once cooled and dried, crush the potatoes in a large bowl. Don’t mash them completely – you want it to be a very lumpy mash. Mix in the ham, parsley, spring onions, capers, mustard, egg and 300 g (10½ oz) of the parsley sauce along with a generous pinch of salt and pepper.

Stir it all together carefully, making sure it’s evenly combined but not totally mashed together.

Form the mixture into tennis-ball sized patties (about 120 g/4¼ oz each) and place onto a baking sheet or large plate. Refrigerate to set for a minimum of 1 hour.

You can pat the ham cakes down and fry them like this if you don’t have the time or the ingredients to coat them, but I like to coat them with breadcrumbs for extra crunch.

Put the flour into a bowl, seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper. Put the breadcrumbs into another bowl and put the beaten eggs into a third bowl. Set up an empty baking tray (pan) at the end, ready to put the ham cakes onto once breaded.

Mould the ham cakes into the shape you want – I like to pat mine into neat 2 cm (¾ inch) thick patties. Dip the patties into the flour, making sure it covers every side, then into the beaten eggs, again making sure the egg coats all the surfaces, then finally into the breadcrumbs.

You can freeze or refrigerate some of the ham cakes at this stage, then just fry however many you want to eat.

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan (skillet) over a medium high heat, then add a few ham cakes at a time, sealing off the edges first by rolling them in the butter and oil until lightly golden. Take care as they will be quite fragile. Turn over and fry for 3–4 minutes on each side until completely golden all over.