Cheat's fish & chips
Bacon crumb, smashed peas & quick mint sauce
Cheat's fish & chips
Serves 4
Cooks In45 minutes
DifficultyNot too tricky
Nutrition per serving
7 Ways
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Ingredients
- 800 g potatoes
- olive oil
- 1 rasher of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
- 100 g stale bread
- 50 g plain flour
- 1 large free-range egg
- 4 x 125 g white fish fillets, skin on, scaled, pin-boned, from sustainable sources
- 500 g frozen peas
- 1 bunch of mint (30g)
- red wine vinegar
- extra virgin olive oil
Tap For Method
7 Ways
Tap For Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
- Scrub the potatoes, chop lengthways into 2cm wedges, toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then arrange in a single layer on your largest roasting tray. Roast for 40 minutes, or until golden and cooked through, shaking halfway.
- Meanwhile, roughly chop the bacon and place in a food processor, tear in the bread, add 1 tablespoon of oil and blitz into fine crumbs, then spread across a plate. Spread the flour across a second plate, and beat the egg on another.
- One by one, turn the fish in the flour, then the egg, letting any excess drip off, and finally turn in the bacon crumb. Line up on a non-stick baking tray and roast for 15 minutes, or until golden.
- Cook the peas in a pan of boiling salted water, then drain and mash well.
- Pick the mint leaves into a pestle and mortar, pound into a paste, then muddle in 1 tablespoon each of red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, and season to perfection. Serve the fish and chips with the peas, dolloped with the mint sauce.
Tips
– Feel free to add an extra flavour to your wedges as they roast, such as a herb or spice. My River just loves smoked paprika at the moment.
– If you don’t want to use bacon in the crumb, swap it out for anchovy, sun-dried tomato, or a herb.
– You can mix things up on the veg front. I like to add frozen edamame and broad beans to the peas before smashing them, or roughly chopped fresh asparagus or green beans would work a treat, too.
