Breakfast Fish Cakes with Bearnaise Sauce

Pan-fried fish cakes topped with a warm and buttery bearnaise sauce for breakfast? Sign me up.

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Breakfast Fish Cakes with Bearnaise Sauce

Pan-fried fish cakes topped with a warm and buttery bearnaise sauce for breakfast? Sign me up.

Ingredients

For the Fish Cakes:

• 3 large russet potatoes (peeled and boiled to tender in salty water)
• 12 Tbsp salted butter (1.5 sticks)
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• 2 scallions (finely sliced)
• 3 4oz seabass or salmon fillets (depending on your preference)
• 2 tsp Kosher salt (for seasoning fish)
• 1 whole egg
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley (finely chopped)
• 1 cup fine breadcrumbs (for breading fish cakes)
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 3 Tbsp fresh chives (very finely sliced)

For the Bearnaise Sauce:

• 2 oz Tarragon vinegar, or white wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp shallot ( finely minced)
• 4 Tarragon stems
• 1 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
• 2 oz dry white wine
• 1 oz water
• 6 egg yolks
• 16 oz clarified butter
• 3 Tbsp fresh tarragon leaves, minced
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 Tbsp or more to taste)
• 1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1 lemon (cut into wedges, for garnish)

Instructions 

• For the fish cakes, mash the boiled potatoes and mix with the salted butter, and season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
• Add scallions and gently stir to combine.
• Set scallion mashed potatoes aside for later.
• Boil salty water until just barely simmering.
• Season the fish with kosher salt.
• Add fish fillets and cook for 3 minutes.
• You do not need to cook the fish all the way through here, but you can if you prefer.
• I prefer the fish to be slightly undercooked at this stage, so the fish protein can finish cooking during the final stage of frying.
• Remove fish from liquid and gently break the flesh up into flakes.
• Add flaked fish, the whole egg, and the chopped fresh parsley to the scallion mashed potatoes and stir to combine.
• Form the mixture into ½” or 5/8” thick patties, roughly 3” in diameter.
• *If the mixture feels too wet to form into patties, you can always add in a few Tbsp of bread crumbs to the mixture and stir to recombine.
• When you are satisfied with your fish cakes, gently bread them on both sides by pressing them gently into the fine breadcrumb mixture.
• Set breaded fish cakes aside on parchment paper for pan-frying.
• In a saute pan, heat vegetable oil until it is warm, but before it is smoking hot.
• Add the fish cakes and cook on moderate heat, where the fish cakes are gently and happily sizzling while the cook.
• Cook fish cakes on both sides, cooking until the cakes are golden brown on both sides.
• *The fish cakes can be quite delicate and can fall apart if they are flipped too aggressively.
• It will help to flip them using a fish spatula or other thin spatula.
• Remove and let drain on paper towels.
• Transfer fish cakes to parchment and place on a metal sheet tray in the oven at 250F to keep warm while you make the bearnaise sauce.
• For the bearnaise sauce, combine the vinegar, shallots, tarragon stems, and black peppercorns in a small pot on the stove.
• Increase heat to medium high and reduce until the liquid has nearly evaporated.
• Stir in the white wine and water to rehydrate the mixture.
• Strain mixture into a metal bowl that you will be using as part of your double-boiler set-up later.
• Bring a pot of water to a low simmer on the stove.
• This pot of water will serve as the heated base component of your double-boiler.
• Add the egg yolks to the mixture and aggressively whisk egg yolks together off the heat for 3 minutes, until the eggs have become frothy.
• The eggs should have roughly doubled in volume and turned a lighter color.
• Place the mixture on top of the bowl with the simmering water, turn down the heat, and whisk the eggs aggressively.
• The goal here is to warm and gently and thicken the cook the egg mixture without scrambling it.
• During this time, if you feel your bowl getting too hot, whisk the mixture briefly off the heat, and then return to the heat when you feel it getting cooler again.
• Pour warmed clarified butter slowly in a thin stream into the heated egg yolk mixture while whisking continuously.
• When you are done whisking in the butter, the mixture should (hopefully) be completely emulsified and nicely thickened!
• Stir in the fresh tarragon leaves and season with lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper.
• If the bearnaise sauce is too thick, whisk in a Tbsp or two of warm water.
• Pour warm sauce over warm fish cakes, garnish each plate with fresh chives, and serve with lemon wedges.

Notes

If you wait too long after making this bearnaise sauce before serving it, the sauce will break due to being kept at too low a temperature. Additionally, if the sauce is heated too much, the eggs will scramble. The secret to making and holding this sauce is about finding the balance between those two extremes.
If you are trying to hold the sauce warm, try keeping at a temperature between 140-150F. You can do this by keeping the sauce in a covered container that is sitting inside of an insulated warm water bath. In some commercial kitchens, the sauce is kept in a warm place near the stove.
As the sauce is held warm, note that it will continue to gradually thicken. You can always whisk in a small amount of warm water to get back to the desired consistency.
If you are interested in taking this dish even more in the direction of an eggs benedict, consider serving the fish cakes on a toasted and buttered English muffin with a thin slice of jamon serrano and bearnaise sauce.
You can also serve the fish cakes alongside some soft scrambled mashed eggs or top with a sunny side up egg.