Fish and chips with tartare sauce recipe

Prepare: less than 30 mins
Cook: no cooking required
Serve: Serves 2

Crisp battered fish, twice-cooked chips, homemade tartare sauce and minty mushy peas make a classic fish supper. You’ll need a deep-fat fryer for the fish and chips.

By Matt Tebbutt

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Ingredients

For the fish

2 x 250–300g/9–10½oz cod or haddock fillets
10g/⅓oz dried yeast
200g/7oz plain flour
200ml/7fl oz lager, size to be confirmed
100ml/3½fl oz sparkling water, quantity to be confirmed

For the chips

500g/1lb 2oz potatoes, peeled and cut into chips
vegetable oil, for deep-frying

For the mushy peas

250g/9oz dried marrow fat peas
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 onion, peeled and halved
3 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1 bay leaf
½ bunch mint
2 thyme sprigs
30g/1oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint

For the tartare sauce

200g/7oz homemade mayonnaise
2 tbsp cornichons, chopped
2 tbsp capers, chopped
1 banana shallot, finely chopped
2 tsp chopped tarragon
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 lemon, juice only
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

malt vinegar
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Method

To make the mushy peas, put the dried marrowfat peas in a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda. Cover with cold water and leave to soak overnight.
Drain the peas, then put them in a saucepan and cover with fresh cold water. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaf, ½ bunch mint and thyme. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the peas are soft.
Drain the peas and remove the onion, garlic, bay leaf, mint and thyme. Lightly crush the peas, keeping some texture, then stir in the butter and chopped mint. Keep warm.
For the fish, lightly sprinkle the fish fillets with salt and leave for 1 hour.
To make the batter, mix the yeast, flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Gradually whisk in the lager, then add enough sparkling water to make a loose batter. Cover and leave until foamy.
To make the tartare sauce, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
For the chips, put the potatoes in a large saucepan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Drain, then chill in the fridge.
CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.
Heat the deep-fat fryer to 150C. Fry the chips for a few minutes, then drain.
Increase the deep-fat fryer to 180C. Fry the chips again until golden and crisp. Drain well.
Dip the fish fillets into the foamy top layer of the batter. Deep-fry until golden and cooked through. Serve immediately with the chips, mushy peas, tartare sauce, malt vinegar and lemon wedges.