Fish and Chips Redux

Good evening everyone! One of my all time favorite dishes to order whenever Maggie and I decide to dine out is fish and chips. There's something so simple and yet so satisfying about breaded and fried white fish with crispy fries or chips. Of course, this menu item is never very good for you and is typically fried in fatty grease and oil that any health conscious at home chef wouldn't dream of using. We've managed to find a few healthy fish and chip recipes across the years, but we're always on the look out for new and innovative ways to make the popular dish. When I stumbled across tonight's recipe and its interesting breading style, I knew I had to give it a shot.

The Recipe: Oven Fried Fish and Chips
Original Recipe Found On: Eatingwell.com

What You'll Need:

1 1/2 Pounds Russet Potatoes, Scrubbed & Cut Into 1/4 Wedges
4 Teaspoons Olive Oil
1 1/2 Teaspoons Cajun Seasoning
2 Cups Cornflakes
1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Egg Whites (Beaten)
1 Pound Cod, Haddock or other white fish (tilapia, perch) cut into 4 pieces

Begin by adjusting your oven racks so that one sits in the top third of the oven and the other sits and the bottom third. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and prep two baking sheets. Spray one with cooking spray, and place a wire baking rack on the other, coat the rack in cooking spray as well.

Begin by tossing your potatoes (already scrubbed and cut) in a colander under cold water until they are completely clean. Pat the potatoes dry with a paper towel to remove most of the water. Next, add the potatoes to a large bowl and toss them with olive oil and 3/4 teaspoon of the cajun seasoning. Toss until the wedges are evenly covered. Spread the wedges onto the baking sheet (sans wire rack) and place them in the oven (on the lower rack). Bake until they're tender, making sure to turn the wedges every 10 minutes or so, for about 30 to 35 minutes.

Next, coarsely grind the corn flakes in a food processor, blender or simply smash them in a plastic bag (last one is the easiest - and less clean up too) Transfer the crushed flakes into a shallow dish. Add the flour into another shallow dish and finally, place the beaten egg whites in a shallow bowl. Add the remaining cajun seasoning and salt to the flour mixture and toss to evenly incorporate.

Now, if you're a fan / long time reader, you know how this next part goes - arrange your dishes, assembly line style, on the counter. First, place the dish with the flour mixture, followed by the egg white, followed by the corn flakes. Leave your baking sheet with the wire rack at the end of the assembly line so that you have an easy place to drop off your finished fish.

Begin the breading process by patting the fish fillets dry with a paper towel. Next, dredge both sides of the fillets through the flour, allowing any excess to shake off. Carefully dunk the fillets into the egg white mixture before pressing them into the corn flake breading. Make sure that the breading is evenly distributed into the fish, and that all cracks and crevices are filled. Place the breaded fillet on the wire rack and repeat until all fillets are breaded.

Place the second baking sheet on the upper rack in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the breading is golden brown and the fish is opaque. Serve with the 'chips' and enjoy!


The Results:

The main draw for this dish was the new breading - corn flakes. I'm pleased to say they worked very nicely, in fact, they're hard to discern from panko bread crumbs after they've been crushed. They add an interesting new "crunch" to the final breading as well. The cajun seasoning was a nice touch to this recipe and one that is needed. Without the seasoning, the flavors could all run together and be rather bland, but just a little dash of this seasoning adds a great deal of depth and complexity to the final dish. When you factor these great flavors in with the fact that very little oil is used at all in the cooking process, you simply cannot go wrong with this dish!

That's all we have for you this evening. Be sure to stop in tomorrow night as we give a special "behind the scenes" look at our new kitchen / cooking layout. Until then,

~Cheers