Beer Battered Fish and Salted Lemon Tartare

 Hi everyone

This is a lock down home cooked play on Friday night fish and chips. 

Beer battered fish

Ingredients:

4 - 5 fillets of fresh firm fish -  I love trevally, snapper, tarakihi and blue cod yum yum 

3/4 cup of plain flour

1/4 cup of corn flour

1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup or in my case a 330ml bottle of ice cold beer - I used a heineken lager. Dont use a stout it will overpower the fish and darken the batter. 

How to:

Pat fish dry using paper towels or a tea towel. I cut in half if larger fillets. I try to keep them a reasonably comparable size as that means they cook more consistently. Season the fillets with salt and pepper before placing in the corn flour below.

Place ¼ cup corn flour in a shallow bowl and coat the fish shaking off any excess flour.

Heat 6cm of oil in a large heavy based pot or in a wok over medium high heat to 190°C. I don't use olive oil I find its not the best for deep frying. I used rice bran oil this time.

Just before cooking, whisk together the flour, corn flour, baking powder and salt. Add very cold beer into the batter and whisk just until incorporated evenly into the flour. Do not over-mix, do not worry about flour lumps.  The batter should be fairly thin but coat the back of a spoon. If too thick, add a bit more beer until its the right consistency.

Dunk a piece of fish in the batter, then let the excess drip off very briefly

Carefully lower into oil, one piece at a time. Don't crowd the pot; fry in batches. Fry for 3 minutes, flipping after about 2 minutes, until deep golden.

Drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining fish. Serve hot! 

If you are doing a big batch of fish then Id suggest a double fry only because with the second fry you can get more fish in and therefore less risk of soggy fish from earlier batches waiting for you to cook it all. If you are going to cook twice this is how Id do it:

a. First cook: Fry fish in batches for 2½ minutes until crispy and golden, but not a deep golden. Drain on paper towels, continue with remaining fish.

b. Final cook:  This is to reheat and make it deep golden and crispy. Increase oil temperature to 200°C. Add fish and fry for 1 minute until deep golden. For this second run you can crowd the oil more. Drain and repeat with remaining fish. 

Serve all with a good sprinkle of salt and wedges of lemons and my tartare below

Salted lemon tartare

Ingredients:

1/2 rind of salted lemon pith removed and diced. I make my own when the lemon tree goes manic but otherwise you can pick a jar up in the supermarket or specialty food shops. 

Half a cup of good mayo. Dont go cheap and nasty as they are often really oily and dont work well with this recipe. I either make my own or I use the best foods brand

1/2 a red onion diced - white onion is fine too

1/2 a capsicum diced - I like red for colour but up to you

A couple of small gherkins rinsed then diced

A tablespoon of rinsed then diced capers

The juice of half a lemon

A handful of fresh italian parsley washed and chopped

A teaspoon of mustard or chunky relish (optional)

Half a lemon rind grated and sprinkle of smoked or plain paprika as garnish

How to:

Add all the ingredients together in a bowl except the garnish. Mix and taste season as required and then chill till fish is ready. When ready top with garnish lemon rind and or paprika and serve.

Enjoy

                                       

Mamas easy brisket

 Hi everyone

Over the last couple of years Ive been working through options for an easy and flavoursome cooked brisket. I have smoked one, I have slow baked one, I have pressure cooked one and frankly one day out of desperation to get a hunk of brisket cooked before family arrived I did all three! Ironically that moment of desperation helped me produce one of my best versions of the dish but frankly three different processes is too much even for me. So this recipe uses two but I have found it to be generally bullet proof. .

Ingredients

1-2 kilo brisket fat trimmed 

charcoal rub - I use Jess Pryles Black Beef seasoning but generally others are fine and the world wont end if you dont have it

Sweet Baby rays Hickory & Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce -  I use a lot of it but really its too taste. I did find that this brand unlike some others with brown sugar doesn't make the meat sickly sweet once cooked (husband wouldn't eat it if it did as he hates sweet foods).

salt and pepper

red cabbage, red onions, other greens to go under the brisket 

To do

Heat your oven to 160 degrees 

Because Im never organised or have unexpected visitors my brisket is often coming out of the freezer. I dont actually mind it that way but you can defrost if you prefer. I pull out a couple of large sheets of foil and lie them flat on the bench. I add a couple of smaller non stick foil sheets on top. I place the brisket on the non stick foil and shake the rub over then I pour the bbq sauce over and brush it all over the meat. I turn it over and do the same to the other side making sure that the sides are covered too. I then wrap that meat up making sure that its secure and there are no gaps for the liquid that will come out of the meat as it cooks to go. I put it in my dutch oven with the lid on and pop it in the oven for 6-8 hours or as long as I can. I check it regularly to add more bbq sauce on and make sure that the juices are not seeping out as that can spell disaster (code for tough dry meat). If that happens pull it out and pour the escaped juices back on top and wrap it in more foil to keep it all in. Then put back in the oven. 

An hour before you are due to serve pull the meat out and put it and the juices into the pressure cooker. If its too big you may need to cut in half to get it in. I then make sure there is enough liquid and add half a cup of water or beef broth if need. I also add a tablespoon or so of the bbq sauce ..yeah its all in the sauce. I pressure cook the meat on high for 45-60 minutes depending on the size. Once done I release the steam and pull it out. It should be melting soft and yummy. 

I carve and place on top of the garnish in a disposable tray. I brush on some of the juice including between each slice and season. The garnish ensures that the meat isnt stewing in its juices while it sits and if you like sliced raw red cabbage or onion like I do the hot sauce actually cooks it a bit and you can eat it and enjoy that tanginess alongside the meat.  I then reduce the juice to a delicious ju and put in a grave jug for anyone who wants to add more. 

Then with a mac n cheese or big salad we all tuck in.