For simple fish and chips use the best and freshest fish you can find. Malt vinegar and plenty of lemon give it the perfect kick.
Flathead with crushed peas
For simple fish and chips use the best and freshest fish you can find. Malt vinegar and plenty of lemon give it the perfect kick.
- Serves 4
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Ingredients
- 200 gm coarse breadcrumbs from day-old sourdough bread
- 2 tbsp coarse polenta
- 500 gm skinless flathead fillets, cut into 6cm pieces
- Seasoned plain flour, for dusting
- 3 eggs lightly whisked with 2 tbsp milk Vegetable oil
- Vegetable oil, for shallow-frying
- Malt vinegar and lemon wedges, to serve
Oven-roasted chips
- 700 gm (about 3 large) sebago potatoes, scrubbed, cut into 1.5cm-thick chips
- 50 ml olive oil
- 2 tbsp rosemary
Crushed peas
- 300 gm frozen peas
- 40 gm butter, coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- Finely grated rind and juice of ½ lemon
- 2 tbsp coarsely chopped mint
Method
Main
- 1Preheat oven to 200C. For chips, toss potatoes, oil and rosemary in a bowl to coat, season well
with sea salt and pepper and transfer to two trays lined with baking paper. Roast, shaking trays
occasionally, until golden and crisp (20 minutes). - 2Meanwhile, for crushed peas, blanch peas in boiling salted water until bright green (1 minute; see notes). Drain, return to pan, add butter, crème fraîche, and lemon rind and juice, and crush with a fork. Season to taste. Add mint just before serving.
- 3Reduce oven to 160C. Heat about 5cm oil in a deep saucepan to 180C. Combine breadcrumbs
and polenta in a shallow dish. Dip fish in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, pressing so they
stick and shaking off excess. Fry in batches until golden and just cooked (4-5 minutes). Drain on
paper towels, season with salt, and keep warm in oven while frying remaining fish. Serve hot with
crushed peas, chips, vinegar and lemon.
Notes
To blanch an ingredient, cook it briefly in boiling water, then drain. To refresh it, plunge it in a large bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process, then drain it.