What To Do With Leftover Mash

I had some mashed potato leftover from when we had pie and mash earlier this week so I used it to make some fishcakes. My mum would use tinned pink salmon to make her fishcakes but we prefer tuna. Tuna used to be a really cheap fish for us when I had all 5 kids to feed, but it’s so expensive these days that when I saw 2 tins for a £1 on Approved Foods a while back I ordered 40 tins. They are currently stored under our bed along with my stockpile of tinned beans, condensed soups, tinned stewing steak and cardboard boxes filled with various dried pasta shapes and rice. We could probably survive a lengthy siege on what I have stockpiled in our bedroom.

Back to the tuna…yes, it is in oil but a rinse with a hot water gets rid of most of that, and it is nice solid chunks rather than the flakes that just disappear down the sink when you drain them. So, tuna fishcakes made my way.

Tuna Fishcakes

This isn’t a precise recipe as quantities of ingredients depend on how many cakes you want to make and flavourings on your personal taste. The amount it makes depends on the amount of mash you have and how many tins of tuna you use. To 1lb of mashed potato I’d add one tin of tuna and probably make 6-8 fishcakes depending on how big you like them.

Ingredients

Leftover mashed potato (or cook as much as you need and allow to cool before use – it should be fairly stiff, not sloppy)

A tin or tins of tuna

Tomato Puree or Ketchup

Dried Parsley (or chopped fresh if you prefer)

Black Pepper

Beaten Egg(s)

Dried Breadcrumbs (or you could use fine oats or just flour)

Method

This is easy peasy. Mix the well-drained tuna into the mash along with dollops of tom puree or ketchup, parsley and pepper to your taste. 

And now for the messy part. Form the mixture into round cake shapes, dip in beaten egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs.

Allow to chill in the fridge before either frying in hot oil or brushing with oil (or spraying with Frylight) and baking in the oven. Serve with chips (we prefer oven chips and bake the fishcakes and chips at the same time), and peas, mushy peas, baked beans, or salad as desired. 

On another subject, I wonder whether there are any other volunteers out there. I’ve recently started volunteering, doing admin work at my local Volunteer Centre. As well as getting me out of the house and doing something worthwhile, I’m hoping that the skills I’m learning and having up to date referees might help me to get back into the job market after nearly 30 years as a stay at home mum.

I’ve also taken part in an Employability course that I was referred to by the Job Centre. It's funded by the government and run by LearnDirect. We don’t qualify for benefits as DH (a supply teacher) is working at the moment, but by signing on every two weeks my National Insurance is credited towards my old age pension and I’ve found them very helpful in suggesting courses I can take free of charge and ways of getting back to work. Volunteering was near the top of their list so I can tick that off as done, and also the Employability course which was extremely helpful. I now have a presentable CV and more confidence that I might actually find paid work at some stage in future. Not that I’m in a hurry, but now all the kids are grown I feel I should do more to contribute to the household. My next step is to take the ECDL (European Computing Driving Licence) which I can also study for free through LearnDirect and which will also give me skills used in office work.

So, my point is, volunteering is not only helpful to the charities and organisations requiring volunteers, but also to the volunteer themselves. If you're interested in opportunities for volunteers the best site to look at is www.do-it.org.uk. If you find an opportunity you're interested in you can apply through the site which will send your enquiry to your local Volunteer Centre and someone like me will contact you with details of who to phone or email at the charity or organisation concerned. If you are in the Dover, Deal, Folkestone, Canterbury area you can contact the Dover District Volunteer Centre directly by phoning 01304 367898 (ask for Vince or Karen) or email office@doverdistrictvolunteering.org.uk

Okay, that’s me doing my promotion for volunteering, and I'm now done for tonight. Thanks to my new reviewer, Pam. I hope you like the cake when you get around to making it.