Cloud Munchies for James: Fish & Chips, Mushy Peas and Tartar Sauce
I work at a creative agency called Cloudfactory in Amsterdam with an amazing bunch of people from all over the world, and as I love cooking dishes from all over the world I thought it would be a fun idea to cook something to represent where they’re from.
So in the upcoming weeks I’ll be cooking dishes for example from India, Portugal, France, Poland, Brabant, from all over the place. I’m really looking forward to it!
Today I’m starting with James, he’s from the UK and for him I’m making Fish & Chips with mushy peas and a tartar sauce.
He recommended a recipe from Gordon Ramsay and it turned out really great! Gordon makes the fish first and puts it in the oven to keep warm while you make the fries, next time I think I’ll do the fish and chips at the same time so they’re both fresh from the fryer.
What I really liked about this recipe is that the fish and chips are both shallow fried, a quick and healthy way of frying and you also don’t need a fryer for it, just a wok or another deep pan.
Fish & Chips, Mushy Peas and Tartar Sauce
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Loading...Ingredients
- 1 large Waxy potato, peeled and cut into fries
- 2 pieces white fleshed fish like Cod (± 150 g per piece)
- 120 Grams Self Rising Flour + additional to coat
- 1 medium egg white
- 1/2 cup Light Beer or Lager (+ a bit more dilute the batter more if needed)
- Sunflower Oil, enough to shallow fry in x 2 (± 500 ml)
- 1 tsp Salt for in batter + extra to season fish
- 2 tsp Curry Powder (used twice, optional!)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Tartar Sauce
- 1 tbsp pickles, chopped
- 1 tbsp capers, chopped
- 2 tbsp Creme Fraiche
- 3 tbsp Mayonnaise
- 1 medium Shallot, diced
- 1 squeeze of lemon (± 1 tsp, to taste)
- Mushy Peas
- 1 medium shallot, finely chopped
- 1 chili, deseeded and finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated
- Frozen peas 300 g
- Fresh mint 30 g, finely chopped
- Olive oil
- Knob of butter
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
Please read the whole recipe before starting, you'll be frying the fish and the chips at the same time. I like to prep the peas and the tartar sauce first, so we're ready to serve straight away.
Mushy Peas (10 minutes)
To a small sauce pan add some olive oil and butte, when melted and foaming add the shallot. Sauté for 2 minutes.
Add the garlic and chili and stir through, turn the heat low while you move on to the peas.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the peas and mint and turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook for 2 minutes.
Drain the peas and add to the shallots.
Mix and season with pepper and salt.
Take the peas off the stove and crush with the back of a wooden spoon or a quick blitz with a handheld blender.
Tartar Sauce (5 minutes)
Mix all the ingredients together.
Taste and season, set aside.
Fish & Chips (15 minutes)
Start by laying out the fries on a tea towel to air dry, preferably for half an hour or longer, but 10 minutes works as well.
Heat 2 deep pans with a layer of oil, for example 1 wok and a normal deeper pan.
Get a shallow bowl of flour ready to dredge: add 2 tbsp of flour and 2 tsp of curry powder and set aside. Then start on the batter.
In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, 2 tsp curry powder, a good pinch of salt and beer.
In a separate bowl whisk egg whites till there are stiff peaks and fold into batter (if too heavy add some water or a splash of beer).
Season fish well with salt, then coat with the dredging flour.
Knock off excess flour and put into batter mixture. Make sure fish is fully battered. Let is lay in the batter shortly while you start frying the fries.
To one of the pans add the fries, keep the fries moving with a slotted spoon.
To the other pan add the fish, keep basting the fish with the hot oil. Let first side cook until golden brown and flip (± 2.5 minutes). Basting fish with oil on other side (± 21.5 minutes)
In the meantime keep your eyes on the fries as well.
When fish and chips are both browning and nice and crispy remove from pan and drain. Season the fries with salt straight away.
Now all you need to do is plate it up!
Notes
In Gordon's recipe he recommends to just use 1 pan, starting with the fish, then move on to the fries. He then keeps the fish warm in the oven, but I find the batter loses it's crispiness this way, so I prefer to fry the fish and chips at the same time. Needs a bit of coördination, but worth it!
