Comforts of the Ocean - Beer battered fish and chips
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Have a great weekend. Darren Marchant Head Chef – the Sky Fleet |
It’s a pleasure to be donating recipes to the Noble Caledonia Travel Post from the Sky Ships. I will be publishing recipes that the guests most appreciate while on board. As a chef, my passion is having the luxury of being able to work with the raw ingredients to produce mouthwatering dishes every day. In this episode of the Travel Post, I would like to share with you my recipe for beer battered fish and chips. If you’ve not made your own fish and chips before I would definitely recommend making this seaside treat at home. The batter is light and crispy and served with delicious triple cooked chips and mushy peas this fish dish is the ultimate comfort food.
Ingredients - serves 4
| Fish | Mushy peas | Triple cooked chips |
| 4 cod or haddock fillets, bones removed | 250g dried marrowfat peas | 6 large Maris Piper potatoes |
| 200g of plain flour, extra for dusting | 2 shallots, finely diced | Rapeseed oil |
| 20g of fresh yeast | 1 garlic clove, crushed | Salt |
| 330g of wheat beer | 2 bay leaves | |
| 1 pinch of sugar | 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda | |
| 1 pinch of salt | 1 cube of butter | |
| 1 dessert spoon malt vinegar | ||
| Salt | ||
| Pepper |
Method
1. Soak the marrowfat peas in water overnight leaving about 1cm of water higher than the peas in the saucepan.
2. The next day, refresh the water and place on the stove and bring the peas to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes and then strain the peas and cover with fresh water again.
3. In a separate saucepan add the shallots and garlic and fry until coloured. Add the peas, bay leaves and bicarbonate of soda to the saucepan and cover with water again. Simmer for at least 1 to 2 hours.
4. While the peas are cooking make the beer batter. Place the flour, sugar, yeast and salt into a bowl and mix. Add the wheat beer whisking the mixture until smooth. Place in a warm part of the kitchen for the fermentation to take place for about 1 to 2 hours.
5. Wash and peel the potatoes and cut into chips. Place into a bowl of water.
6. Place the chips under warm running water until all the starch is removed.
7. Place the potatoes on the stove with cold salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer until the chips are tender and slightly cracked in places.
8. Remove the chips carefully from the water and place on a wire rack and let them steam dry until cool.
9. Turn on the deep fat fryer to 150 degrees and carefully fry the chips for 6 minutes. It is best to do this in batches and then place on kitchen towel. The chips can now be set aside for when required.
10. Remove the peas from the stove. Discard the bay leaves and place the peas into a clean bowl. Whisk the peas gently to start breaking them down to the right consistency.
11. If the mixture appears too wet place it in a saucepan on the stove and simmer until the peas have thickened in texture. If the peas are dry add some water to get the perfect consistency.
12. Add salt and pepper to the peas and a dash of vinegar and then stir. Add the butter and then cling film the bowl and leave on the side.
13. Take the batter mix and whisk lightly until smooth. Turn the deep fat fryer up to 180 degrees.
14. Take the pieces of fish and place in the seasoned flour, dusting off any excess flour.
15. Place the fillets in the beer batter and then hold the fillets up to drain any excess batter off the fish.
16. Place the fish in the fryer and cook for 4-6 minutes. Once the fish is cooked remove and place onto kitchen towel to absorb any excess oil.
17. Place the chips in the fryer and cook until crispy and tender. Remove and season with salt and then serve.