members recipes

Mushy pea phobia is banished with this hearty home made recipe to go with chunky fillets of wild Alaska Pacific cod deep-fried in paprika tempura batter. Simply pan fry frozen peas with mint and lemon zest, and blend to a paste along with lemon juice and butter, and serve with deep fried seasoned fillets of wild Alaska Pacific cod in paprika tempura batter. Serves 4.

Ingredients
4 x 150g (6oz) fillets wild Alaska Pacific cod
1 x 150g Tempura batter mix
1 tsp paprika
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Minted mushy peas:
1 tbsp olive oil
300g frozen peas
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 small handful fresh mint, finely chopped
1 tsp concentrated mint sauce
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
large knob of salted butter

Method
• To make the mushy peas, heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the frozen peas, spring onion, fresh mint and mint sauce for 3 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the lemon zest and cover, leaving the peas to steam for a further 5 minutes over a low heat
• Transfer the peas to a food processor along with the butter and the juice of half a lemon, and blend until smooth. Season to taste and cover to keep warm
• Season both sides of the cod well with salt and black pepper and dust with a little flour. Make the tempura batter with ice cold water according to pack instructions. Add the paprika and season well with salt and cracked black pepper
• Dip the cod into the batter and then lower into 180oC, 350oF hot oil to deep fry for 6-7 minutes until crisp and golden
• Drain the fish on kitchen paper and serve with minted mushy peas

Cook’s tip: Tempura is a wonderfully light and crispy Japanese batter. Dry Tempura mix can be bought from most Tesco stores, just make sure that you use ice cold water and avoid over-mixing – the lumps are good!