Mary Berry’s Smoked Haddock Fishcakes dinner party menu

Crispy Bacon and Taleggio Tartlets

“Individual pastry lined tarts with bacon, tomato and Taleggio cheese filling,” says Mary. “Taleggio cheese is a soft cow’s milk cheese from Northern Italy. It has a mild distinctive full flavour and pale orange rind.”

Ingredients
(Serves 8 - one tartlet each)
Pastry
175g (6oz) plain flour
75g (3oz) butter
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato paste
1 egg

Filling
200g (8oz) smoked bacon lardons
75g (3oz) sun-dried tomatoes, snipped into small pieces
200g (8oz) Taleggio cheese, cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons basil, chopped
2 eggs beaten
200 ml (6fl oz) double cream

Method
First make the pastry, measure the flour and butter and add to the processor, whiz until breadcrumbs. Add the tomato paste and egg and whiz again until it forms a dough. 

Roll the pastry thinly on a lightly floured surface and line two 4-hole Yorkshire pudding tins.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a high heat, add the bacon and fry until crisp. Spoon this equally between the tartlets. Divide the tomatoes, cubes of cheese and basil between the tartlets on top of the bacon. Whisk together the eggs and cream, season with salt and pepper and pour into tart cases.

Slide onto the grid shelf on the floor of the roasting oven for about 15 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is set. Slide directly on the floor of the roasting oven for the last 5 minutes to crispen the pastry underneath.

Serve warm with dressed salad.

Conventional oven
Preheat oven to 200°C/180°Fan/Gas 4 and preheat a large heavy baking sheet to get very hot. Bake on the now very hot baking sheet for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown and set.

Spiced Smoked Haddock and Parsley Fishcakes

“For speed the fishcakes are coated in crushed cheese biscuits – cream crackers,” says Mary. “If you have white breadcrumbs in the freezer, use them if you prefer.”

Ingredients
(Serves 4-6, makes 8 cakes)
450g (1lb) potatoes, peeled and cut into 4cm (2in) cubes
2 eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
450g (1lb) smoked haddock fillet, skinned and cut into 5cm (2in) cubes
3 tablespoons milk
1 ½ teaspoons medium curry powder
3 tablespoons mango chutney
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Juice of ½ lemon
6 cream crackers, finely crushed
2 tablespoons sunflower oil

Method
Put the potato and eggs into two separate saucepans. Cover with water and add salt to the potatoes, and boil for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain the potatoes and mash. Drain the eggs after 10 minutes and plunge them into cold water; when cold, peel and roughly chop.

Meanwhile put the fish and milk into a small deep saucepan, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 2 minutes until the fish is just cooked. Spoon the haddock into a large mixing bowl (check for any bones). Add a little of the hot fishy liquid to the mashed potatoes and beat until smooth.

Add the curry powder, mango chutney, parsley and lemon juice to the fish in the bowl, along with the chopped eggs. Season well with pepper and a little salt, and mix in the mash. Be careful to keep the fish fairly chunky.  If the mixture is a bit soft to shape, chill it until easier to handle.

Divide the mixture into eight, then shape, using your hands, into eight round cakes.  Coat the cakes in the crushed crackers.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and when hot, fry the cakes for about 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown and piping hot.

Serve at once with a herb or tartare sauce.

Baked Apple Orange Sponge

“Something like the old-fashioned Eve’s Pudding, but this one makes its own creamy orange sauce,” says Mary. “If buying orange curd check that it contains butter, sugar and oranges not the one with E numbers! Serve with custard, crème fraiche, cream or all three!”

Ingredients
(Serves 6)
For the base
300ml (10fl oz) single cream
6 tablespoons real orange curd
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 heaped teaspoon plain white flour
750g (1¾ lb) cooking apples

For the topping
2 eggs
175g (6oz) self-raising white flour
100g (4oz) caster sugar
100g (4oz) soft baking margarine
1 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons milk
1-1½ tablespoons Demerara sugar

You will need an ovenproof dish about 27 x 18 x 4.5 cm (10½ x 7 x 2 in).

Method
To prepare the base, combine the cream, orange curd, sugar and flour in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Peel, core and very thinly slice the apples. Mix the sliced apples into the cream mixture, spoon into the base of the ovenproof dish and level with the back of a spoon.

To make the topping, combine all the ingredients except the Demerara sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth, and then spread gently over the apples in the dish. Sprinkle with Demerara.

2-Oven Aga
Slide onto the grid shelf on the floor of the roasting oven with the cold plain shelf on the second set of runners above. Cook for about 40 minutes until the sponge is cooked through. If it’s getting a little too dark, cover with foil for the last 10 minutes.

3 and 4-Oven Aga
Bake on the grid shelf on the floor of the baking oven without the cold shelf and cook as above.

Serve warm

Conventional oven
Pre-heat a baking sheet in a pre-heated oven 160°C/325°F/Gas 3 for about 30 minutes. Slide the dish onto the hot baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cover with foil and continue to bake for further 45 minutes or until the sponge is cooked.