It’s been one day without regular posting and, guess what? I missed you.
And it’s been approximately 18 years since I have eaten fried fish made at home.
And I hadn’t missed it. Not at all. See, I had a ‘clean your plate’ kind of Dad. Actually, that’s a lie. I had a Dad who ONCE in his lifetime had a ‘clean your plate’ moment. He chose that moment to be a day when our neighbor gave him a mess of rotten catfish.
And it was cleaned, breaded, fried, and laid on the table like any mess of catfish would be. And being the pudgelette I was, I grabbed a few pieces.
What? I liked fried food. But I took one bite and knew something was wrong. So did my mom, and my sister. But that old bear wouldn’t let me leave the table until I had cleaned my plate. And I cried my way through that fish, oh boy did I cry.
So did my mom, and my sister.
I thought I’d never eat fried fish again, with my flushed cheek laying on the toilet seat that night.
Until now. It’s time to break bad memories and make good ones. Set new rules about cleaning plates ( I for one think that rule reinforces obesity in America, but whatever…)
My rule someday will be, Mom made dinner, now you CLEAN up the plates.
Fish n’ Sweet Potato Chips
4 filets of firm fish, I used Cod
1 cup cake flour
1 cup beer
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus 2-3 cups for frying
1 dill pickle
1 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Sweet Potato ‘Chips’
4 sweet potatoes, washed and sliced in wedges
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, chopped
freshly grated parmesan
4 tablespoons olive oil
Combine the cake flour, beer, salt, baking soda, and oil and whisk to eliminate air bubbles. This batter should resemble pancake batter. Let it sit on the counter for an hour before battering fish.
Combine the diced dill pickle, mayonnaise, juice of 1 lemon and parsley and let the flavors come together in the fridge until the rest of the food is done.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and rinse and slice the sweet potatoes
and season with salt, pepper, chopped garlic and olive oil. Toss on a baking sheet to coat and bake for 40 minutes. Garnish with freshly grated parmesan.
When the potatoes are about 5 minutes away from being done cooking, heat the oil to 350 degrees in a dutch oven or in your electric fryer. Batter your fish, letting the excess drip off into the bowl of batter.
Drop into the hot oil, cooking around 3 minutes per side, until golden.
Let it drain for 1 minute on a drying rack.
Serve with the chips and homemade tartar sauce.
Have fun breaking bad memories and changing the rules on this one. It worked for me!
Love,
Whit
mmm mmm mmmm!
both the fish and the fries look scrumptious! and although I’m not usually a tartar sauce girl you do need a little something creamy to go with. looks awesome!
I actually don’t eat fish however, this looks great and is making me hungry!!
Yum…this is gorgeous! Always looking for new ways to fry up seafood…we can fry damn near anything here in Texas. My dad has some bad fish memories…still won’t touch fried fish to this day.
Whit, I totally agree that the “clean plate club” reinforces bad eating habits of eating when you are full (something that I’m working, but that’s another story).
The fish looks amazing! and I am a sucker for sweet potato fries (especially with a warm goat cheese dip…but again, another story)
Great post. Just a note, the recipe says it calls for 1 cup of cake batter, when I think you mean cake flour? Thanks again.
Those sweet potato “chips” look so amazing. They are one of my favorites.
I went to England in high school for a school trip. I had fish and chips everyday for 7 days. To this day I still cannot have fried white fish.
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