Fish and chips is meant to be a Friday food. I’m not quite sure why? I’ve heard a few different reason; that it’s a religious thing, that it was the day fisherman used to return home and that it’s a treat for the end of the week.
Whatever the reason, we’ve given the classic fish and chips a little make over to jazz it up for a Saturday Night Fakeaway.
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Fakeaway 25 January 2014
“Salt and Pepper Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas and Tartare Sauce”
Total cost: £4.81 for a family of four
Ingredients
All ingredients used were either supermarket own brands or the lowest price.
We calculated the cost of each of the ingredients separately by looking at the item’s total value, then working out what the amount we would need. For example, mixed herbs are £1.39 for 100g, for a 5g teaspoon full it would be 7p (£1.39/100 x 5 = 0.0695).
Salt and Pepper Fish
- Add the ingredients into a bowl and stir.
- Place the fish in the batter and put to one side for about 15 minutes.
- Heat oil in a pan and, when hot, place in the battered fish in the pan.
- Fry for about 5 minutes on each side.
- Remove the fish and rest on kitchen roll to remove excess oil.
- Remove the majority of oil from the pan, then add in the garlic, chilli and a good helping of salt and pepper.
- Once the smell starts to release, add the fried fish and let it soak in the flavour of the chilli, then add the spring onions.
- Turn the fish over a few times to ensure each side gets a coating.
Salt and Pepper Chips
- Peel and slice potatoes into thick cut chips (about 1cm cubes).
- Rinse chips under water and drain.
- Add them to a baking tray and drizzle oil and salt and pepper.
- Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, shaking halfway through cooking.
- Heat oil in a pan, then add in the garlic, chilli and a good helping of salt and pepper.
- Once the smell starts to release, add the cooked chips and let it soak in the flavour of the chilli, then add the spring onions.
- Turn the chips over a few times to ensure each side gets a coating.
Mushy Peas
- Cook the peas as per packet instructions.
- Drain the peas, keeping about 2tbsp of the water.
- Mush the peas with the back of a fork.
Tartare Sauce
- Finely chop gherkins.
- Mix with mayonnaise in a bowl and set aside in the fridge for a few minutes before using.
If you’ve got enough left over from Christmas why not have a gherkin on the side as well.
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This is such an easy and quick dinner. If you wanted, you don’t need to do the Salt and Pepper twist and just make the classic fish and chips.
For all the Fakeaways I’ve cooked, there is normally something going on in the background, like an the children having an argument that I need to break up, or my sister popping around just as I’m about to roll up spring rolls (that really threw my timing out – thanks sis!), or a photographer snapping me while cutting up cabbage.
Even with interruptions, I’ve managed to prepare a half decent meal which was hot and which we actually eat for our dinner that night.
I don’t know what went wrong with this one. For a very easy recipe, I somehow managed to forget the chips were in the oven. They weren’t in there that much longer – maybe 10 minutes – but it was long enough to give them a nice brown look. Luckily, they still tasted OK, just didn’t look as good as they could of.
I also nearly threw the tartare sauce on the floor. Thankfully, my super quick reflexes snapped into action and I caught it. It may have been slightly sideways when I caught it (and I ended up having sauce over my fingers) but I managed to save most of it, and enough for us to have something to dip our chips into!
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This looks great and cant believe it comes in at less than a fiver.
The ingredients in a table is really neet too :-)
Great recipe? We use a variant for our fish coating – oatmeal mixed with salt, pepper and All-Purpose Seasoning.
As to why fish is a Friday dish, it comes from the Middle Ages, when the fish merchants wanted a way to sell all their stock by the end of the working week, so they lobbied the Catholic Church to decree it a religious requirement.
Sorry, that should be *Great recipe! – exclamation mark, not question mark.