INGREDIENTS
1 x 175g piece Pollock, filleted and skinned
For the batter:
200g Flour
1 egg yolk
250ml beer, Chapel Down English Beer
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar
1 egg white whipped
Fresh yeast
For the Braised Peas:
½ bag frozen peas, defrosted
10 baby onions, blanched, these could be the frozen silver skin ones
Few drops of water
25g butter
25g flour
75g pancetta, cut into lardons
For the Tartare Sauce:
1 heaped tbsp mayonnaise, good quality or homemade
1–2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
2–3 gherkins, finely chopped
2 tsp capers, finely chopped
Lemon juice, to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Chips
4 x Maris Piper Potat
Recipe continues
METHOD
To make the batter:
Whisk the beer, flour, yeast and egg yolk together to form a paste, fold in the sugar, salt and egg white.
Coat the Pollock in the batter and deep fry at 160˚C until golden brown.
For the Braised Peas:
In a pre heated pan, cook the pancetta until crisp, then the onions, add the peas and cook for a minute, then add the water, season, then mix the flour and butter together and add to the peas to create a smooth creamy texture.
To make the Tartare Sauce:
Simply combine all the ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl, seasoning to taste with the lemon juice, salt and pepper.
For the chips:
With a sharp knife, square the potatoes into rectangles and then cut them into chips about 1cm/½inch thick. The length of the chips is not so important, but try to keep them the same thickness so that they will cook at the same rate.
As soon as the chips are cut, put them into a bowl under cold running water for 10 minutes or so to rinse off some of the starch, then drain them.
Next, bring a casserole of unsalted water to the boil and plunge in the drained potatoes. Bring back to the boil and simmer very gently until the point of a knife will penetrate the chips easily.
Very carefully lift the potatoes out of the water, using a slotted spoon, and place them on a tray. Allow them to steam until they are cool, then place them in the fridge. The chips will harden when cold.
Heat the dripping to a temperature of 130˚C and carefully plunge in the chips as they may splutter. After a while, they will take on a drier appearance (do not let them brown at all); drain them, let them cool to room temperature, and put them into the fridge.
When cold, they are ready for their final cooking. Heat the dripping to a temperature of 180˚C. Carefully plunge in the chips and cook until golden brown. This may take 8-10 minutes.