A lovely dish celebrating the north and south coasts of the Med, with the fishcakes having a lovely herby, lemony flavour redolent of North Africa, while the soup, fragrant and fruity, comes direct from Marseilles. You can of course have the fishcakes with a plateful of salad instead of the soup

The Fishcakes:-

400g monkfish, chopped in 5mm dice, half whizzed to a paste in a blender

1 large banana shallot, very finely chopped

1 dstspn capers, roughly chopped

1 dstspn chives, finely chopped

The rind of ½ a preserved lemon, finely chopped

2 tspns fennels seeds, crushed

2 eggs, beaten

75g flour

100g breadcrumbs

Groundnut oil to fry

The Stew:-

3 tbspns extra virgin olive oil

1 large banana shallot, finely chopped

1 dstspn chives, finely chopped

1 celery stick, finely chopped

1 small bulb fennel, chopped into 1cm dice

150mls white wine

1 tin tomatoes

1 litre fish stock or vegetable nage

½ tspn turmeric

1 star anise

2 bay leaves

2 tspns Pernod

To finish

1 tbspn flat leaf parsley

Dried lemon powder

To make the fishcakes:-

• Combine all the fishcake ingredients except the flour, egg, breadcrumbs and oil. Mix well and season. Then form the mixture into balls a bit smaller than golf balls. Ideally, you want 12 in all. Flatten then into little cakes. Put the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs onto 3 plates. Coat each of your cakes in flour, then dip it in the gee, making sure it’s coated completely, and the breadcrumbs, making sure it’s coated completely. Put on a plate, and rest them in the fridge while you do the next bit

To make the stew:-

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan or wok. Add the onion, fennel, chives, bay leaves and celery, and fry over a medium heat for about 7 minutes till soft. Then add the wine, stock, tomatoes, turmeric and star anise. Bring to a gentle bubble, and simmer for 20 minutes, until the liquid has thickened a little

To serve:-

• Heat your oven to 190C/Gas 5. Heat a splash of groundnut oil in a frying pan, and fry the fishcakes in batches until both sides are golden, about 2 minutes on either side. Put them onto a baking sheet, and put in the oven and cook for a further 7 minutes

• Stir the Pernod into the stew, then put a generous couple of ladles of it into each of 4 soup plates, adding a tiny pinch of dried lemon powder. Carefully place 3 fishcakes on top of each, scatter with chopped parsley, and serve