Beer-Battered Fish Sandwich (Fish 'N Chips)

So, here’s the star of the dish I had researched and tweaked for almost a week… The fish! One of my favorite bloggers had posted his recipe for Fish (Sandwich) ‘N Chips a few weeks ago, and it just kept coming back to me. While I did like his recipes and ideas, of course I had some of my own. Therefore, the past week has been a quest in researching and then remaking recipes to suit my own ideas and wishes.
While Kevin at Closet Cooking uses eggs in his beer batter, I had never heard of such a thing and was confused as to why one would do this (not to question Kevin’s knowledge). So, I went to the man who knows everything… Alton Brown. After looking over his recipe, I actually decided that I liked the sound of it much better! So, I changed only a couple of things, the size of the fish pieces mainly, and that’s what I used for my fish sandwiches. Since it was St. Patrick’s day last week and I had Guinness in my refrigerator, that’s what I used in my batter, which is surprisingly more authentic to Fish ‘N Chips than I had originally thought. Apparently, the dish is just as much an Irish dish as an English one, so that means I still get to remain authentic in my recipe! Although, I’m fairly certain that the English and the Irish don’t put cayenne or Old Bay in their batter, but I’ll let that slide… ;-)
Funny story, on the day I was making this meal we had blizzard conditions here in De Pere, so I had the fireplace on and went about making my bread, mixing my mayonnaise, and preparing the broccoli slaw. Being that the measurements for the broccoli slaw ingredients are from an English recipe, everything is done using the metric system, so I got my digital scale ready and started going about my work. Then, halfway through measuring my ingredients, my scale died! And, wouldn’t you know, the darn battery is one of those crazy 9-volts that nobody has unless you have children, especially boys with remote control cars. Son of a biscuit!! Frantic, I asked every neighbor I know if they happened to have one, but no such luck… I scoured my apartment looking for ANYTHING that might have one of these batteries, including taking my smoke detector apart (which is wired), but couldn’t find anything! Finally, frustrated, I stuck the battery back in the scale in hopes that I could get it to work for the few remaining ingredients I needed to weigh. I got all of the ingredients out and ready, and turned on the scale. VOILA!! It worked! After I finished measuring all of my ingredients, it came to me… My bathroom scale has a 9-volt battery!! Even though I didn’t need it for my kitchen scale anymore, I took the battery out of the bathroom one and put it in there. Who needs to weigh themselves anyways?! It’s not like the thing ever tells me what I want it to! :-D

Printable Recipe

2 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
Couple dashes Old Bay Seasoning
8 oz. Guinness, cold
4 oz. water, cold
2 lb. cod fillets, cut into sandwich-sized pieces
Cornstarch, for dredging

Scali Sandwich Rolls
Fresh Herb Mayonnaise
Creamy Broccoli Slaw
Oven Fries

Heat the oven to 200°F and heat the oil in a deep fryer to 350°F.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Whisk in the beer and water until the batter is completely smooth and free of any lumps. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Note: The batter can be made up to 1 hour ahead of time.
Lightly dredge fish pieces in cornstarch. Working in small batches, dip the fish into batter and immerse into hot oil. When the batter is set, turn the pieces of fish over and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Drain the fish on a roasting rack. Serve the fish on scali sandwich rolls with fresh herb mayonnaise, and serve with creamy broccoli slaw and oven fries.

Oven Fries (Potato Wedges)

For the past week or so, I have been researching the recipe for and background of Fish ‘N Chips, after seeing it on the one and only blog I was following at the time (I now follow two). What I found, and was surprised by, is that Fish ‘N Chips is not entirely an English tradition as I had thought. The dish also has a strong Irish background and is popular in many countries other than those affiliated with England, including Germany and Australia. I also learned that there are several variations of this dish, with characteristic traits based on the region, although most of them do go back to the English and Irish origins.

With that being said, I know that these are not the traditional “chips” by any means, but I couldn’t help the feelings of guilt about eating so much fried food in one meal. I’ve tried making French fries in the oven several times and they never seem to come out right, so I didn’t want to go that route. But, there’s nothing wrong with potato wedges made in the oven! Even though these are tossed with some olive oil, I feel a little bit better about eating them since they’re larger pieces of potato to a smaller ratio of oil.
So, I went about making my baked potato wedges! Thinking about the fish, I couldn’t help but think of the lemon I like so much with fish and then another idea came to me. Thyme is such a wonderful herb because of its hints of lemony freshness, and I am fond of adding it to my oven roasted asparagus as well as other oven roasted potatoes, so I couldn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t also use it for these potatoes. In addition, I like the fresh flavor that parsley gives to a dish, so I added some of that to the mixture as well. The potatoes turned out so good! They were perfectly soft and moist on the inside and a little bit crunchy on the outside. They will be perfect paired with my English/Irish-influenced fish!

Printable Recipe

4 large russet potatoes
¼ c. extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. dried thyme
2 Tbsp. dried parsley

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Preheat a foil-lined baking sheet in the hot oven for at least 5 minutes.
While the baking sheet is heating, cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and then quarter them lengthwise to make 32 big, fat wedges. Toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt, and thyme in a large bowl. Then dump the potatoes out onto a baking sheet, spreading to a single layer. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through, brown, and crispy, being sure to turn the wedges halfway through cooking. Makes 4 servings