Monday, April 19, 2010

A Nice Surprise and Fish and Chips


I had just finished hauling the 10th. bag of groceries through the door when I noticed a long green box on the front porch.

The card read, "Happy Birthday Week"

The box contained my favorite flowers, long stemmed yellow roses.

TBHITW has done it again, proven why I call him The Best Husband In The World.

Tonight, to thank him, he is so getting .......

One of his favorite meals.

Fish & Chips (American Style) - that's my apology for my across the pond friends, where Fish & Chips is a national past-time. (feeds 4-6 people easily)

2 pounds Cod
1 bag frozen "steak" cut fries
1 1/4 cup rice flour, divided
1 tablespoon kosher salt
6 grinds of fresh black pepper
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
1 12 ounce can club soda
Vegetable or Canola oil for frying
2 brown paper bags

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Take your fish out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Cut into 4 inch pieces. Dry thoroughly. Shake the fish in 1/4 cup rice flour. Meanwhile:
Begin heating the oil (about 3 inches deep) in a big kettle. Oil should be 350 degrees.

Mix 1 cup rice flour with salt, pepper and baking powder. Beat egg slightly. Add to rice flour mixture and add club soda to make a thick batter. (start with 3/4 can and adjust as needed).

Take rice flour coated fish and dip into batter, place into hot oil and fry for about 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. Transfer to brown paper bag lined cookie sheet with a cooling rack placed on it. This will insure that the fish drains properly AND stays crisp. See cooks notes below.

Place in oven to keep hot.
Add fries to same oil and fry until golden. Drain fries on brown paper bags.

Serve fish and fries with cole slaw on the side. Lemon wedges, malt vinegar (for drizzling on fish) and store bought tartar sauce.

A Cook's Notes: use brown paper bags to drain grease from fish. Paper towels absorb oil, and your fish will sit on grease soaked towels and become soggy. Placing the fish on a rack with brown paper bags on the bottom will insure crisp, grease free fish.

If you don't have or can't find rice flour, use all purpose flour, sifted.

14 comments:

  1. This is one of my favorite things. Oh, who am I kidding? Food in general is one of my favorite things!

    Why club soda? I'm just curious.

    The flowers are beautiful; you're a lucky gal. Happy Birthday soon!

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  2. Happy Birthday!!! Love fish and chips. I also like cod as the fish. Although we had Walu here in Hawaii, and they were served grilled or deep fried, we tried both and actually liked the grilled better.

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  3. Ann - I don't make this often for obvious reasons but it is one of our favorites - so crisp, so light.

    Whitney, the club soda interacts with the baking powder and makes for an incredibly light, crunchy (non-greasy) coating.

    Nancy - oh how I love the fresh fish in Hawaii!

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  4. Yummmmy! This looks amazing! What a good hubby to send flowers. I have to admit that my husband is equally savvy about birthdays! : )

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  5. Oh, that looks so good. I will have to try it. We are planning to have a big greasy fish fry this summer in the campground. I think I will introduce them all to a southern delicacy......cheese grits. Can't go wrong with a stick of butter and cheddar according to Paula Deen!

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  6. Almost forgot (I am hungry) Happy Birthday!!

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  7. Happy Birthday!!! we are both April birthday babies!!! Aren't we absolutely fabulous babes!!!
    This year will be our year!!!
    Now I am going to fry some fish!!!

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  8. Jen - we are lucky women indeed!

    Kathy - oh, I love cheese grits, just made some on Friday night. Do you add a dash of heavy cream to yours?

    Marlene - Yes we are April babies. My actual "big" day is the 26th. and I am so much a Taurus Bull!

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  9. Just stopped by to say thanks for visiting and following my blog. I adore your recipe - I'll DEFINITELY try it when I can stand the smell of cooking odors in my house again. (Olfactory hallucinations from seizure disorder have made it impossible for me to cook meats of any kind for quite a while now.)

    Yellow roses are my favorite, and what a sweetie your husband is for sending them. Let me tell you about my...sweet...hubby and my Valentine's Day roses.

    Fred and I had agreed we wouldn’t exchange Valentines. We (read: I) went way overboard on Christmas, and we’re actively saving for retirement. (Read: That old miser is hoarding every penny he can get his hands on.) But he knows how much I love roses, (read: we had a fight, and he knew he was wrong) so he ordered a dozen mixed, in a vase, from a reputable company I’ve used many times. Only he didn’t want to pay the extra charge to have them delivered over Valentine’s Day weekend. (Read: see miser remark above.) So he had them delivered TUESDAY, when Valentine's day was SUNDAY. TUESDAY, you hear? He put the box, hidden, UNOPENED, in the basement, ON TUESDAY, and brought it out on SUNDAY NIGHT. Yeah, Valentine’s NIGHT, for maximum effect, if you know what I mean. Those roses fell out of that box one petal at a time. “Your roses will need water immediately upon arrival,” the instructions said. I salvaged them as best I could. Some had five or six petals, some had three; the red ones seem to have fared best with maybe nine or ten petals remaining. The baby’s breath was pretty, but those roses’ days were numbered!

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  10. Happy birthday! Yellow roses are my favorite, too.

    I love your blog and will belly up here often, now that I know about it. I am always looking for something new to cook, and this is such a warm, friendly place to visit.

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  11. heartinsanfrancisco- Yellow roses make me swoon, they are just so perfect! I'm so glad you found me and look forward to visiting back and forth often.

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  12. Beautiful roses and gesture. And that Cod Fish looks fabulous! Happy Birthday Week!

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Wow. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I love feedback... what with being a cook and all. I will respond to your comments via email (if you do not have a "noreply" address or here, below your comment) As always, Bon Appetite!

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