A good fish cake is a joy, but a when it goes wrong there is nothing more disgusting. For years I had problems with tuna fish cakes. Yes, they were handy and cheap, but to be honest they weren’t really all that nice.

I’ve experimented quite a lot to get these just right. Along the way I’ve made some that had the texture (and sometimes the colour) of dry sand and were almost impossible to swallow, others that sat in a sad soggy pile that wouldn’t tempt anyone to even try swallowing them.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there are three main problems with most recipes:

1. Using too much mashed potato, or even using mashed potato at all. It makes them stodgy.
2. The common practice of dipping them in flour and/or breadcrumbs to cook. This adds nothing except even more stodginess.
3. Striving to make them low fat. It just doesn’t work.

Since I started eating low carb I no longer care about how much fat they contain but, if you do, be aware that these are great tuna cakes but they are not low fat ones! They are however relatively low carb - there is some potato, but it’s new potato and there’s not that much of it.

These are the same fish cakes as I had on the last day of the €50 challenge. All of the ingredients for this were bought from Lidl.

1 tin Nixe Tuna in brine
Half an onion, finely chopped
1 red Chili, finely chopped
2 scallions
1 oz of butter
1 heaped dessert spoon Crefee Garlic Cheese*
4 baby new potatoes, cooked and cooled.
1 medium egg
Black pepper

More butter or oil to fry the fish cakes.

* This particular cream cheese, which is a Lidl brand, is the one that works best for me, because it’s light textured and doesn’t add any heaviness.

Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Fry the onion and chili gently for about 10 minutes. The onion should be soft and slightly brown.

Drain the tuna very well, squeezing it to get out as much of the brine as possible.

Put in a bowl and separate the flakes gently with a fork - do not mash it. When the onion is done, mix it and the chopped scallion into the tuna gently, again without mashing or overly breaking up the tuna.

Fold in the tablespoon of garlic cheese.

Crush the potatoes so that they are in small irregular chunks, but once again, do not mash. Fold them into the tuna. Season the mixture with a good amount of black pepper. You should end up with a loose mixture that looks something like the one above.

Now lightly beat the egg and mix it gently though. I think you know by now not to mash!!

Divide the mixture in four and form each portion into a ball in your hands, then flatten into a cake shape. Put the cakes into the fridge for an hour or so (longer is fine) to firm up before frying.

Fry in butter or olive oil (I prefer butter) over a medium heat. Be sure to allow them to fully fry on one side before turning them over, otherwise they can break up a little.

I like these with a little mayonnaise on the side, but you could also serve with sweet chili sauce or a tomato based dip.

Cost: Tuna 64c; cheese 20c; butter 12c; onion 5c; chili 20c; egg 15c; scallions 15c; potato 10c.

Total cost for 4 fish cakes is €1.61.

Tags: Fish, Recipes, Tuna
Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments »

I remember years ago, and I mean maybe 25 years ago or more, being at some do or other where beautiful salmon sandwiches were served, fresh tasty salmon, soft bread, a little mayo. Perfect. But one women cast her’s aside with a disgusted snort: “I don’t know what rubbish they have in those but it certainly isn’t John West Red!“.

We’ve come a long way in Ireland from the days when salmon more or less always came in a tin, its quality judged by the depth of its colour.

I’m a pretty dedicated consumer of many of Lidl’s frozen fish offerings, but although I’ve been told by several people that the Admiral range of tinned fish was also excellent, almost as good as fresh, I’d never tried any. So last week I bought a tin for the first time, specifically the ‘Nature’ (ie unflavoured) Salmon, which cost €2.39.

The tin looked promising with a nice looking piece of salmon pictured on it. When I opened it though, it was a different story.

A greyish looking and very unappetising chunk of fish lay in a cloudy brine inside. Ok, I thought, maybe grey salmon is good. It’s probably just the effect of the brine and it means there is no dye or anything, which is a plus.

So into a bowl it went with some mayo, chopped scallions, a squeeze of lemon and a shake of paprika. Much better. Now it at least looked edible, even tasty. I tucked in……..

It certainly isn’t John West Red. The dog really, really liked it. I won’t be buying it again.

Tags: Fish, Salmon, Taste Test
Posted in Taste Test | 5 Comments »

I mentioned previously buying these Mussels in Garlic Butter Sauce, which are new to Lidl, and said I’d report back when we tried them, which we did last night.

All I can say is YUM. They are absolutely excellent, good sized plump mussels in a light and very buttery sauce with a good garlic flavour. Just one of our pack failed to open and had to be discarded. They were perfectly cooked in just 4 mins in the microwave, as per the pack instructions.

I’d have to disagree with their idea of portion size though - the pack seems to suggest that it will serve 4 people. Unless you are extraordinarily mean it absolutely won’t. There is just enough for a starter for two people and frankly I’d happily eat the whole pack myself. But at €2.99 even that wouldn’t be an extravagance.

There is a version in White Wine sauce too, which I’ll certainly be trying.

Tags: Best Buys, Fish, Mussels
Posted in Best Buys, Taste Test | No Comments »

Are you one of those people poking their heads tentatively around the doors of the local Lidl for the first time? This quick run down of what I consider to be the best buys there may be a useful introduction to the unfamiliar products on the shelves.

I haven’t mentioned veg here because, well, veg is veg. Nor have I mentioned fresh meat, because that’s a story for another day.

The list below is in no particular order.

1. Nuts

All the nuts are good, all the nuts are cheap. Half a kilo of peanuts for €1.39 is a winner, as is the same weight of Cashews for €4.19 - the latter are a bit overly salty so I throw them in a colander, give them a good shake and then store in an airtight jar. Not that they stay stored for very long.

But my pick here is the Walnuts, which are truly of exceptional quality, moist and fresh tasting, and only €1.99 for a 200g pack. You’d pay more than that for the standard dried up and bitter ones on many supermarket shelves.

Best Buy: Walnuts

2. Cheese

You won’t find much fancy stuff here, but what is there is mostly very good. The Vintage Mature Cheddar is a well known bargain, generally priced at 3.79 for a large 400g slab but currently at a euro less than that.

I love the Garlic Cream Cheese in the little 99c tub. This is a very handy pot to have around - a spoonful on top of a steak or floated on Leek & Potato soup or mixed though a sauce adds loads of garlicky goodness with minimal effort.

There is very keenly priced Feta available most of time, but I haven’t bought it in a while so can’t remember the exact price.

The Parmesan may not be the world’s greatest but it’s cheap at less than €20 per kilo, or around €4.00 per wedge, and tastes good to me. Ditto the mozzarella, which is 79c a pack. It comes in two varieties - standard and low fat. Personally I think the low fat one tastes a bit odd, so I stick to standard.

Best Buy: Vintage Mature Cheddar

3. Chocolate

I’ve gone on about this before, but there are some amazing chocoholic treats in Lidl. The Ecuador 70% and the Trinidad 75%, at 1.49 for 100g, are very good dark chocolates which are almost always in stock and they have recently been joined by a Fair Trade 70% chocolate, at the same price, which is also excellent.

I’m a high cocoa junkie, but there are also less dark bars in the same range - branded J.D. Gross - if you prefer a milder chocolate. These are all chocolates from a single region, sometimes a single estate, and are easily as good as expensive luxury brands.

Look out for occasional special edition J.D. Gross bars, which appear maybe once or twice a year. The three best of these are Kul Kul, a 78% cocoa chili chocolate from Papua New Guinea; 81% Arriba from Ecuador which has cocoa nibs in it and is a really intense chocolate hit; and the San Martin 77% from Peru which is an exceptionally smooth dark chocolate.

Best Buy: 70% Ecuador Chocolate

4. Ham, bacon & Sausages

The Prosciutto is, for me at least, the nicest of the ham buys and at €1.99 for 8 good slices it’s a snip. The Serrano at the same price is a wee bit too salty. Genuine Parma is excellent and very well priced at €3.99 a pack.

Probably the bargain of all bargains in Lidl is their bacon offcuts, which are sold as a large and very unappetizing looking lump for €1.99. However simply unwrap and dump the whole lot into a moderate oven for 30-40 mins or so, drain off the fat when it’s done and then chop the cooked bacon into small pieces.

It’s a kind of messy process, but you’ll end up with an absolutely vast volume of bacon bits for half nothing. I freeze these in plastic cups covered with cling film and they come out fine.

The salamis and other continental sausages are brilliant, particularly the Chorizo which tastes better to me that much more expensive deli ones. I’m also partial to the Pepper Salami, which costs 2.99 for 200g - great on pizza, in a salad or just as a snack.

Best Buy: Prosciutto

5. Cereals

Most of the Lidl cereals I avoid - I’ve found them either overly sugary or a bit bland for my taste. However I know people who think the cornflakes are great and who buy lots of the others. The ones aimed at kids look horrific though - what exactly is added to make bright blue cereal?

But don’t walk past, because there is one real star here: Special Muesli Luxury Fruit & Nut - the one in the blue pack. This is an excellent muesli that easily stands up to comparison with much more expensive brands. It has more nuts (and better nuts) and fruit than others that cost multiples of the price. It’s normally €2.49 for a decent sized 750g pack, but is reduced to €1.49 at the moment.

Best Buy: Luxury Fruit & Nut Muesli

6. Biscuits & Cake

They have some good fancy biscuits, but at 39c for a pack of Custard Cream or a large pack of Bourbon Creams, 45c for a pack of Chocolate Chip Cookies and 69c for very good shortbread, all of them perfectly tasty, it’s a great place to stock up on the more everyday kind.

If you’ve teenage boys in the house you’ll know they tend to look on biscuits not as individual items but as things that are eaten in units of a pack, so these sort of prices are particularly welcome.

I have never tried any of the cakes - bought cakes are not generally on my list of favourites - so I can’t really comment on them, except to say that they seem to be popular items in other people’s trolleys (you do look in other people’s trolleys don’t you?).

Best Buy: Bourbon Creams

7. Sauces, Dressings, Mayo etc

I’m not sold on most of the bottled or jarred sauces I’ve tried in Lidl, but then I’m not sold on pre-prepared sauces generally. Lidl often have some flavours of better known sauce brands in stock - recently I’ve seen Pataks and Lloyd Grossman - at prices much lower than are usual, so if you use these there can be bargains available.

The mayonnaise is not bad - it certainly isn’t a premium one but it isn’t offensive, takes flavouring well, and is very cheap. It’s available in standard and low-fat versions.

The exception to my lack of enthusiasm about this section is the Red and Green Pesto. These should quite simply be in every kitchen all the time. The red is (marginally) better than the green but both are wonderful kitchen standbys.

A bowl of pasta with a spoonful of either one stirred through and a grating of cheese makes a super fast, super cheap, super tasty lunch. They also make good dips.

And they are very cheap - just €1.39 each.

There are also tubes of tomato puree which are great value. If you prefer to make your own tomato sauce, as I do, the tins of plum tomatoes at 29c each or chopped tomatoes at a similar price are the business.

Best Buy: Red Pesto

8. Frozen Fish

The frozen breaded fish is as good as any you’ll get, but isn’t something I use a lot of. My favourite buy in this section is prawns. Aside from the ordinary bags of frozen prawns for €4.99 for 500g, a price which makes prawn salad a fairly routine weekday lunch around here, there are others not always in stock which are great buys, notably the €2.99 King Prawns used to make this curry.

There are often fish specials, and they are almost always worth a look. There were lovely fish Kebabs available earlier this year and I’ve just bought some vac packed Scottish Mussels in Garlic butter which look tasty - they’re in the fridge, when we get to them I’ll let you know!

Around Christmas they have lobster at pretty amazing prices, though they are very small ones. If you do decide to indulge you’ll really need one per person even for a starter.

A very handy freezer standby is the pack of two pieces of salmon with spinach in puff pastry. I don’t have the price here, but if you need a tasty dinner involving no effort beyond bunging something into the oven, then these are just the ticket.

Best Buy: King Prawns

9. Bread

Most of Lidl’s bread is fairly routine though good value, but there are two stand out products. One is the part baked bread buns with seeds on top, at €1.69. These bake up in about 10 mins to crusty and delicious little loaves that also look really appealing. The second is the 89c Sunflower Bread, a dense, moist, nutty flavoured brown bread that is not just tasty but healthy also.

The muffins, 9 for €1.69, are also tasty. These have become noticeably smaller over the last few month though - I hate when they do that, just be honest and put the price up!

Best Buy: Sunflower Bread

10. Boring but Necessary Stuff

Tinfoil, greaseproof paper, refuse sacks, freezer bags, kitchen paper, loo roll etc - none of this makes for exciting shopping, but we all need them. They are cheap here, sometime astoundingly cheap, and of good quality.

Cleaning products vary in quality. I’ve not been that happy with the washing machine tablets (though the fault may be at least in part with my ancient washing machine), but the 3 in 1 dishwasher tablets have been excellent, and I live in a hard water area so they are well tested.

However the stand out cleaning product for me is the W5 Power Cleaner, in the pink bottle, which costs €2.79 for 750mls.

This is hands down the best general kitchen and bathroom cleaner I have ever used and it goes a long, long way. It’s brilliant on ceramic hobs. I imagine it contains all manner of dreadful things, the contents list is very vague, but it sure does its job.

Best Buy: W5 Power Cleaner

Tags: Bargains, Best Buys, Biscuits, Bread, Cereal, Cheese, Chocolate, Cleaning, Fish, How to Shop, Meat, Nuts, Pesto, Prawns, Sauce, Specials
Posted in Best Buys | 8 Comments »