A fish dish by Richard Corrigan
Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas and Tartare sauce.
Serves 4
4 pieces of haddock
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Batter
10g fresh yeast
1x300ml bottle of beer (ale)
100g plain flour
80g rice flour
20g cornflour
10g salt
Tartare sauce
75g cornichons, drained and coarsely chopped
75g small capers, drained
2 shallots, finely diced
1tbsp finely chopped parsley
1tbsp finely chopped tarragon
1tbsp finely chopped chervil
1tbsp finely chopped chives
200ml mayonnaise
2 hard-boiled eggs
Chips
1kg starchy (chipping) potatoes
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Mushy peas
A little butter
1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
250g dried marrowfat peas, soaked overnight
1tbsp bicarbonate of soda
100ml malt vinegar
Salt
For the batter, whisk the yeast into the beer, then whisk in the flours and salt. Allow to stand in a warm place for about 30 min,
during which time it will puff up and bubble.
To make the tartare sauce , fold all the ingredients, except for the eggs, into
the mayonnaise and keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
Peel the potatoes and rinse and dry them. Peel and cut them as you
like – we keep our chips quite chunky. Don’t put the potatoes in water at this point or you will wash away the valuable starch that you
need to prevent them cooking too quickly without softening properly. Heat the oil in a deep fat fryer (or large pan filled no more than
a third full) to 140 C. Put in the cut potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, until they are soft but not coloured. Remove and drain on
kitchen paper.
For the mushy peas, heat the butter in a pan, add the onions, garlic and celery and cook gently until soft but not coloured. Drain the
peas and add them to the pan, along with bicarbonate of soda. Add enough water to cover by 2.5 cm. Bring to the boil, then turn down the
heat and simmer for 1-1.5 hours, topping up with more water if necessary. The crucial thing is not to stir the peas at all during cooking.
That is the key to lovely soft peas. Once you stir them, the outside will start to break down, turning the water thick and sludgy and unable
to carry on cooking the peas properly. Stir them and you will end up with mushy outsides and hard insides. Once the peas are soft(test one
between your fingers), take off the heat and leave to cool. Now you can stir in the vinegar and a good pinch of salt.
Increase the temperature of the oil to 170C. Pass the fish through batter and lower it into the oil. Because the fish is quite heavy in
it’s batter it will want to sink at first, and oil won’t envelop it properly, so support it lightly with a fish slice or spider until the
yeast in the batter puffs it up and it floats by itself. Fry for about 4 min, until golden and crispy, then lift out and drain on kitchen
paper.
Increase the temperature of the oil to 180C, put in the blanched chips, and cook until golden. Serve with the fish, mushy peas
and tartare sauce.
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“I am lucky enough to spend time in this beautiful part of Ireland most summers with my family.
I have been privileged to have spent many a day (and usually well in to the evening!) with Jim and can truthfully say this man
is a legend in the art of fishing of every kind.
He has taught me things about the environment and the fish which only a man
that has spent all of his life in this business would know, and I take these valued snippets of information back with me to my
restaurants in London and Dublin.
I would thoroughly recommend chartering Jim’s boat, The Wild Swan, whether you are an experienced angler or a complete novice.
It is a truly fantastic experience.
And what better way to see the coastline and the beauty of Ireland”.
Richard Corrigan
www.bentleys.org
www.bentleysdublin.com
www.corrigansmayfair.com
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