‘You will forget everything but the decadent flavours rolling around your mouth’: Ellie Bouhadana’s recipe for fishcakes with green herbs and labneh.‘You will forget everything but the decadent flavours rolling around your mouth’: Ellie Bouhadana’s recipe for fishcakes with green herbs and labneh.
Put the minced fish in a wide bowl and add the herbs, chilli, lemon zest, salt, pepper and spices, and two tablespoons of olive oil. Reheat the oil in the frying pan over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, fry the fishcakes in batches until golden, about two minutes each side. Spoon the yoghurt into a bowl and whisk in 250ml of the warm milk thoroughly. Don’t add the milk when it is too hot or you will kill the bacteria. Pour the yoghurt-milk mixture into the remaining warm milk and whisk again thoroughly to combine – this will ensure a smooth yoghurt.
You can serve the labneh simply, with a bit of flaky salt and olive oil sprinkled over the top, as well as fresh herbs, such as mint or parsley. Cover the dish and put it in the fridge to cure for at least six hours, or overnight. Serve with focaccia and marinated vegetables.In Procida, an island off the coast of Naples in southern Italy, I booked dinner one night at a plain but beautiful restaurant with a view of the ocean. There I ate a meal that lingered in my mind as something I wanted to try making myself: an amatriciana with tuna.