Fish Goujons served in a Baby Gem Lettuce Leaf with a Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Ketchup as a starter or lighter lunch
Cooking and preparation time 30 mins total.
Needed:
- A fresh baby gem lettuce, washed please, leaves pulled off at the bottom of the stem ensuring lovely little baby gem lettuce cups.
- Two red peppers and two cloves of garlic still in their skins.
- White fish goujons. Most seasonal white fish will be great but I particularly love flat fish for this recipe. Plaice, Flounder, Dab, Lemon sole or Cornish sole or Meagrim are fantastic. Filleted, skinned and portioned with pin bones safely removed. Please do ask what’s in season or what’s best and we’ll be so pleased to help.
- Stale ciabatta bread (is best for homemade bread crumbs in my opinion)
- A handful of dried herbs (of your choice but oregano or marjoram would be my choice),
- Sea salt flakes
- If you want the crispy coating of the breadcrumbs to be on the spicy side please just add chilli flakes to the breadcrumb and herb mix.
- Fresh organic egg and some flour.
Right let’s get at it:
Place your two red peppers, whole onto a baking tray with the two cloves of garlic and roast them together for approx. 20 minutes.
Remove your roasted peppers and garlic from the oven and place in a bowl of cold or iced water to cool. Remove the skin from the garlic and take the seeds out of the peppers, roughly chop them up together and blend them with a drizzle of olive oil until silky smooth and looking and smelling fabulous.
The Breadcrumbs:
Roughly chop up your stale bread, as I said, I prefer the old ciabatta for this, add a handful of dried herbs and chilli flakes and blend them until they’re breadcrumbs…. Easy enough so far.
The fish:
My kids and grandkids love to get involved in this next part, so be prepared to share the kitchen in safety if little people want to get involved. It’s really a great thing for our kids to want to learn about food and I for one will do all I can to promote their interest…… Safety is paramount, please do not forget this.
Ok, lets get a little production line running;
The fresh fish goujons at one end, the frying pan at the other on a gentle heat with a few tablespoons of rapeseed oil heating up ready to shallow fry.
The flour on a plate next to the fish, next to that the beaten egg in a bowl and next to that the breadcrumbs on a plate.
Gently roll your goujons in flour, shake off excess flour before immersing the fish in beaten egg. Then roll them in the breadcrumbs and shallow fry in rapeseed oil, over a medium heat for a couple of minutes on each side or until golden brown. Please ensure your pan is big enough for the fish not to be crowded in the pan. When they’re cooked, looking delicious and smelling fantastic, just lay them on some kitchen paper to rest for a minute while you prepare to serve.
Serving:
Lay your Baby Gem lettuce leaf cups on a serving platter or big plate, using tongs place a goujon in each leaf and sprinkle a few sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper over each. Then drizzle over your roasted red pepper and garlic ketchup to finish, cutlery will not be needed!
Please do not be put off by the prospect of a bit of a mess. It cleans up quickly enough and these just maybe the best fish fingers ever!
All homemade, wholesome, delicious and healthy. Something to be proud of and why not.
