Beer Battered Fish & Chips

This easy recipe for beer-battered fish & chips uses our superb Plaice Fillets and will serve two people, making it perfect for a date night fakeaway.

INGREDIENTS

1 x Finest skinless Plaice Fillets (Pack of 2)
600g Maris Piper potatoes
50g plain flour
25g cornflour
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150ml of beer
Sunflower oil

METHOD

*If frozen, make sure to defrost plaice fillets before cooking by placing them in a bowl and defrosting in the fridge for roughly 3-4 hours.

Step 1 - Pre-heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Soak the Maris piper spuds in water for 30 minutes, then drain and leave to dry on kitchen paper to remove excess moisture. Once dried, toss them in a bowl with sunflower oil and a few pinches of paprika to coat, then arrange on a lined baking tray and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and crispy, tossing halfway through.

Step 2 - While the spuds are cooking, mix the batter by combining the plain flour, cornflour, paprika, salt, baking powder and bicarb in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the beer, mixing it all until you have a nice thick batter. 

Step 3 - Pour enough sunflower oil into a large pan to no more than half full, then heat to 190°C (use a thermometer to check temperature, or if unavailable you can test on a small cube of bread which should brown in 30-40 seconds). Season the fish lightly, dust with plain flour, then dip in the batter until fully coated.

Step 4 - Add the fish to the oil carefully and one fillet at a time, then fry for 3-4 minutes turning halfway through until it appears golden and cooked throughout. Remove with a slotted spoon, and drain excess oil on kitchen paper and keep warm while you cook the other fillet.

Serve with the mushy peas, tartare sauce, plus lemon wedges, salt, malt vinegar and organic tomato ketchup.