Surprisingly this dish is not very difficult to cook at home and is guaranteed to save your wallet a chunk of change. Quite frankly a reasonably priced fish and chips out is miserable compared to this recipe! You can buy tarter sauce and frozen chips at the local grocery store but why would you when you can make them at home in minutes. If you are going to eat a dish like this I am grateful to know that though it may have a lot of fat it has not artificial or preservative anything.
The veggie in this trio is sadly, the preverbal third wheel but we might as well throw it in for good measure. I try not to invest too much time or thought here: the traditional English mushy peas are easy and tend to transport one back to pub in London where the air is thick with ale--boil a bag of peas with some mint, when cooked strain, add 2 tablespoons of cream, salt & pepper and blitz in a food processor till it resembles a green version of the slush you find at the bottom of a ski run on a sunny day-- alternatively a simple green salad would suffice and if you are a Ranch salad dressing fan the white creamy dressing running of its emerald mound onto your chips is sheer ambrosia.
Fried Fish
What fish should you use? That is entirely up to your taste and budget but for me a simple good quality white fish from the freezer does the trick. Quite frankly if I have a lovely fresh piece of fish I am not going to be frying it! But use what ever you like.
Ingredients:
4-5 fillets white fish
170 gm/6 oz white flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon mixed dry herbs
1-2 tablespoon dill (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
235 ml/8 oz beer (cold)
*oil for frying (apx 2-3 cups)
Fresh Dill Herb
Method:
Step 1: Salt and pepper fish. It is at this point that I like to cut my fish strait down the middle length ways and then cut those thinner strips into two or three smaller pieces. I find the frying easer and I prefer the look but do keep the fillets whole if you prefer.
Step 2: In a medium size bowl combine all the dry ingredients including the fresh herbs and mix well.
Step 3: Heat your oil. This will take about 10-15 minutes as you want to bring it slowly up to 175-190C (350-375F). If you have a liquid thermometer it is time to pull it out! If not, put the back end of a wooden spoon into the oil and if tiny bubbles form around it immediately the oil is hot. Drop a few drops of patter into the oil and if it rapidly turns dark brown the oil is too hot if it takes more then 1-2 minutes to turn golden brown it is too cold. If as you are cooking your oil gets too hot simply add more oil from the oil vat and it will bring the temperature down quickly.
Step 4: Add your beer to your flower and mixed herbs and spices and whisk until smooth. You want your batter to be thick, if it is too runny it will not adhere to the fish and your fish batter will have wholes in it.
Step 5: Fry them fish! Dip your seasoned fish fillets or pieces into the batter roll to cover then pick up by the very tip and gently shake of any excess batter. Place the fish into the frying pan of oil carefully, and always placing the piece of fish down away from you. Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes the batter should be a golden brown, then use a slotted spoon to flip the fish over and continue cooking the other side for another 1-2 minutes until golden brown. Place cook fish onto a paper towel lined plate of a cookie cooling wrack. Once the oil as dripped of--about the amount of time it takes you to dredge the next round of fish and get them into the oil. Place them on a baking sheet in the oven. Oven temperature should be warm 80C/175F. This will stop the battered outer layer from going soggy and will keep the fish piping hot. Do not cover.
That's it...repeat Step 5 until you run out of fish and then enjoy. That was not so difficult!
In a small bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.
Fill oil half way up your pan (you want enough oil to submerge half the fish's depth minimum). Bring heat gradually up to 175-190C/350-375F.
When the oil is hot add 235ml/8oz of beer to the flour mix and whisk until smooth. This will be a thick batter, this is a good thing.
Dredge the fish in the batter to coat, while holding the tip of the fish gently shake of any excess batter that may be dripping...
Carefully lay the fish into the oil away from your body so as not to be splashed or sprayed with hot oil. *Please be very careful with hot oil especially around children. Make sure the handle of the frying pan is back toward the nobs so it can not be nocked. When I am frying I announce to the whole house that children must not be in the kitchen and must walk slowly and carefully through the kitchen if needed.
Fry until golden brown, 1-2 minutes, then gingerly flip the fish using a slotted spoon. Continue frying second side 1-2 minutes until golden brown. Lift from pan with slotted spoon, hold fish over oil allowing excess oil to drip back into frying pan. Place fish onto a paper towel lined plate or onto a cookie cooling rack allowing the excess oil to drip off. Once dry, about the amount of time needed to dredge and put the next fish into the frying pan, place into a warming oven on a baking sheet. This will keep the batter crunchy and the fish piping hot while the remainder of the fish is fried up.
Chips
Ingredients:
1-2 per eater yukon gold/king edward potatoes
2 tablespoons semolina
1 teaspoon paprika
mixed dried herb
salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
garlic powder
coriander powder
chili powder (optional for spicy heat)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3-4 tablespoons garlic olive oil (or plain extra virgin olive oil)
Method:
Step 1: Peel and slice potatoes into wedges. Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F *(If you want to peel and slice ahead of time simply place potatoes into a bowl, cover with cold water, cover. Store for up to 24 hours.)
Step 2: In a small bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.
Step 3: Coat the potatoes with garlic oil and then coat with dry spice mix.
Step 4: Spread onto baking sheet (do not over crowed the potatoes), bake in oven for approximately 40 minutes, flip once after 20 minutes.
Peel and chop potatoes into wedges.
In a small bowl combine the semolina, herbs, and spices.
Coat the potatoes with garlic olive oil then sprinkle spices onto potatoes mixing well.
Place potatoes onto a baking tray, do not over crowd. Cook in a very hot oven for 40 minutes, flipping the potatoes once after 20 minutes of cooking.
Tarter Sauce
This tarter sauce recipe is an altered version of Ina Garten tarter sauce recipe which can be found on-line at the Food Network web page. I find that her recipes are hit and almost hit...sometimes I need to alter them to fit my tastes as with this tarter sauce recipe.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup egg mayonnaise
3 tablespoons dill pickles/grekens, finely diced as small as you can!
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon grainy dijon mustard or course mustard
1 teaspoon caster sugar
to taste salt/pepper
Method:
Step 1: in a small bowl combine all the ingredients in any order you like, mix until well amalgamated. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Step 2: bask in the liberating joy of having made a sauce from scratch that everyone else buys, and prepare to take the credit at the dinning room table! You can decide if you will admit how easy it was or not.
A simple fish & chips with a green salad--who wouldn't want that for dinner?!
No comments:
Post a Comment