Diamond Jubilee: Oven-baked Fish and Chips

This weekend marks the main celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, so I thought I would make a traditional English dish.

As you might have noticed, my fish & chips look slightly different. That is because they were cooked in the oven rather than deep fried, as is the usual method. I had two reasons for using the oven – it is healthier, but mainly because I don’t own a deep fat fryer and frying on the stovetop scares the heck out of me!

This is the first time that I have attempted making my own chips, and I think they turned out pretty well. I par-boiled the potatoes, but you could leave that step out if you want – just cook them in the oven for a little longer.

As I mentioned before, fish isn’t something that I have cooked very often, so I am not overly familiar with all the different species. When I picked this fish up at the supermarket yesterday it was basically chosen because it had the chunkiest fillets. It is Rimbaldo, which (the sign at the supermarket told me) is a type of deep sea Cod. As North Sea Cod is a traditional fish for use in the UK chip shops, I figured that this was probably the closest I would be able to get here without paying a fortune 🙂 . I served my fish and chips with some peas, which you could mash slightly to make them mushy peas if you want.

If you are looking for British recipes, click here for some others.

Ingredients – serves 4:

Fish:

• 1/2 cup cornflakes, crushed
• 1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
• good sprinkling of salt and pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp lager or light-coloured beer (or milk or even water if you prefer)
• 4 white fish fillets, (your choice), skin and bones removed
• lemon wedges, to serve

Chips:

• 4-6 medium potatoes, peeled (depending on how many chips you want)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper, to season

Method:

• To make the chips, par-boil the potatoes for 5-8 minutes (depending on their size), then drain and leave to cool.
• Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them into chips. I cut my chips quite small, but you could cut them into chunky wedges – just be aware that this will change the cooking time in the oven.
• Put the chips onto a large baking tray and drizzle over the oil. Season with the salt and pepper, then toss to ensure they are all coated.
• Heat your oven to 230C/210C fan forced/450F.
• Cook the chips for 20 minutes, tossing half way through that time.
• Meanwhile, prepare your fish crumb. Mix the cornflakes and breadcrumbs and place on one large plate, then mix the flour and seasonings and put that on another plate. Beat together the egg and beer and put that on another large plate.
• Pat dry your fish fillets then dip into the seasoned flour to coat, shake off the excess, then dip into the egg, and then finally into the cornflake mixture. Place on a large baking tray. Repeat until all the fillets are coated.
• Put the fish into the oven with the chips (after the chips have had their first 20 minutes). Cook both the fish and the chips together for 12-15 minutes, until the fish is cooked through (the cooking time will depend on the thickness of your fillets).
• Serve with peas and a slice of lemon. Extra salt and some malt vinegar is good too.
• Enjoy!