Despite the silence here, Experimental Thursdays have continued a pace. It's probably time for a bit of a catch-up.
Two Thursdays ago, I told you about Hubby's request for fish and chips and my search for a version that did not involve a deep-fat fryer, both for the practical reason that I don't own one and the heart-attack preventing reason that I don't think it is a terribly good idea to put that kind of temptation into your own home. It's rather like buying a packet of biscuits - once they are in the house, they call to you and before you know it, you've devoured the whole lot in an afternoon.
Anyway, Bill Granger did indeed come up trumps. I'm certainly not saying we shall never again grab our wallets and head for the local chippy, but his home-made fish fingers and home-baked fries were delicious. Absolutely delicious. They made the perfect family tea when Hubby unexpectedly managed to escape the office early and get home in time for Baby Bird's rather early 5:30 supper time.
I used haddock for the fish fingers, being a little easier to come by round here than Bill's preferred flathead and brown bread for the Parmesan crumb on the fish, which I think added a pleasant feeling of substance. Once shallow fried, they were a gorgeous mahogany brown colour and tasted fantastic. The trick appears to be to only cook them for a couple of minutes each side so that the fish is just cooked through but it hasn't flaked into a million pieces.
The fries were surprisingly good: simply toss in groundnut oil and season with salt and pepper before throwing in the oven. I dialled the salt right down for the cooking and then added a little extra to Hubby's and mine once I'd served Baby Bird's. She loved the fries, and the broccoli trees that I steamed to accompany them. She also wolfed down a good portion of the yummy upmarket mushy peas taken from Nigella Lawson's How to Cook. Best of all, in her opinion, seemed to be the tartare sauce, which I took from the original James Martin recipe that prompted this whole adventure. She loved this. It seems that strong flavours really are her thing as she went nuts for the heady combination of gherkins, capers and dill that made this a welcome and piquant accompaniment for both fish and spuds. In fact, probably the only bit she didn't really like was the fish fingers! I think I may have to accept that she really doesn't like white fish. Hubby and I, on the other hand, loved them.
All in all, this was a great family meal. The cooking was relatively simple and fairly quick, easily accomplished in just over half an hour while listening to Hubby read stories to our little one (although I confess I did make the tartare sauce earlier in the day while she was sleeping - home-made mayonnaise requires concentration I find). The eating was fun, lending itself to fingers rather than forks and so perfect for little ones. It also felt like a much healthier and more nurturing alternative to plonking some orange reformed fish fingers and oven chips on a baking tray (but believe me, such things lurk in my freezer for the days when life is just too hectic), so it ticked all my Mummy boxes too.
My only mistake? I didn't think about taking a picture until we'd devoured the lot...
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