Jamie Oliver Fish, Chips & Mushy Peas

Another recipe from my boyfriend this week. I asked hubby what he wanted to eat this Sunday and surprisingly he said fish and chips (he never eats fish so this was a win). 

A hard recipe to cook in an apartment kitchen. First off, I had to use a wok on an electric stove to deep fry because I don't have the space to store a deep fryer. Very precarious. Hubby actually took out the fire extinguisher out and placed it onthe counter as a hedge. 

He had two jobs that night. One was to stand by the extinguisher, the other was to wave a tea towel over the fire alarm every time it went off. And it did, multiple times. This is the other thing I want one day in my kitchen, a hood over my stove so I don't inflict smoke inhalation on my guests. Is this too much to ask? A stove hood and storage space? Truthfully I also want a centre island with a sink, a wine fridge and restaurant grade appliances. I also once saw a kitchen island on Million Dollar Rooms that had a motorized movable centre with small appliance storage all at the touch of a button. It's the little things, you know?

Because I don't have a deep fryer, it was difficult to gage the temperature of the oil. I kept the oil at approximately the same temperature for the chips and the fish, but the fish batter seemed to crisp far faster than the chips. If I had a deep fryer I'd probably cook the chips at a slightly higher temp than the fish. Wish I could tell you what temperature this would be. Perhaps one day when I have a my dream kitchen with space for a fancy deep fryer I will update this post. One day. Sigh.

Last note, I didn't use a food processor for the mushy peas because I'm lazy and not a huge fan of peas to begin with, so didn't feel like doing the extra dishes. 

Fish, chips & mushy peas

Good fish and chips are becoming harder to find these days, but there are still some good boys out there making the real deal. However, if you want to make your own at home, here's the recipe I use. Unless you've got a really big fryer I'd say it's not really worth trying to make fish and chips at home for more than 4 people – otherwise it becomes a struggle. Other things to have on the table are some crunchy sweet pickled gherkins, some pickled onions (if your other half isn't around!) – and pickled chillies are good too. Then you want to douse it all with some cheap malt vinegar and nothing other than Heinz tomato ketchup.

Serves 4
Ingredients

For the fish and chips
sunflower oil, for deep-frying
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
225 g white fish fillets, fromsustainable sources, pinboned, ask your fishmonger
225 g flour, plus extra for dusting
285 ml beer, cold
3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
900 g potatoes, peeled and sliced into chips

For the mushy peas
1 knob butter
4 handfuls podded peas
1 small handful fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
1 squeeze lemon juice
sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Method

To make your mushy peas, put the butter in a pan with the peas and the chopped mint. Put a lid on top and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. 

You can either mush the peas up in a food processor, or you can mash them by hand until they are stodgy, thick and perfect for dipping your fish into. Keep them warm while you cook your fish and chips.

Pour the sunflower oil into your deep fat fryer or a large frying pan and heat it to 190ºC/375ºF. Mix the salt and pepper together and season the fish fillets on both sides. This will help to remove any excess water, making the fish really meaty. Whisk the flour, beer and baking powder together until nice and shiny. The texture should be like semi-whipped double cream (i.e. it should stick to whatever you're coating). Dust each fish fillet in a little of the extra flour, then dip into the batter and allow any excess to drip off. Holding one end, lower the fish into the oil one by one, carefully so you don't get splashed – it will depend on the size of your fryer how many fish you can do at once. Cook for 4 minutes or so, until the batter is golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, parboil your chips in salted boiling water for about 4 or 5 minutes until softened but still retaining their shape, then drain them in a colander and leave to steam completely dry. When all the moisture has disappeared, fry them in the oil that the fish were cooked in at 180ºC/350ºF until golden and crisp. While the chips are frying, you can place the fish on a baking tray and put them in the oven for a few minutes at 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 to finish cooking. This way they will stay crisp while you finish off the chips. When they are done, drain them on kitchen paper, season with salt, and serve with the fish and mushy peas.