Homemade Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas

I reckon my greatest culinary discovery since moving to the UK has been Mushy Peas. Love 'em! Can't get enough of 'em! But I don't eat nearly as much of them as I would like to, mainly because the Brits always seem to stare at me with an odd expression of unfathomable curiosity on their faces every time I get excited about eating Mushy Peas ... maybe they don't hold the same charm when its something you've grown up with? I can understand that, after all I find it hard to muster up any kind of enthusiasm about eating a Witchetty Grub but every year when I'm A Celebrity is on I get asked a million and one questions about them. To set the record straight, yes I have eaten one. I can't tell you what it tastes like or what the texture was like because I was 7 years old at the time and did it as a dare - I wasn't brave enough to chew!!!!

Anyway - back to Mushy Peas. Fantastic invention and easy to make at home when the fancy takes ... so long as you don't belong to the camp that says dried marrowfat peas are the only peas to use. They make great Mushy Peas for sure but there is too much 'faffing' (love that word!) involved in getting to the Mushy Pea hit. Using frozen peas isn't breaking any laws at all!

Homemade Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas

200g frozen peas

Butter

1 tsp mint sauce (didn't have any handy so I used pesto with equally yummy results!)

2 firm white fish fillets of about 125g each, I used sustainably fished cod but haddock or pollack would work just as well

2 tbsp plain flour, really well seasoned (I used plain old salt and pepper but next time I'll be replacing this with celery salt and lemon pepper!)

Homemade chips [ahem:frozen oven ready chips work well too]

A few slices or wedges of lemon to serve

Cook the chips as per recipe instructions if making them from scratch or as per the packet if taking the lazy option like me!

Cook the peas following packet instructions. Drain, leaving behind a tbsp of liquid, then stir in a large knob of butter and the pesto or mint sauce. Mash with a masher or whizz with a hand blender for a smoother finish.

Dust the fish with flour then fry for 3 mins each side until really golden and cooked through. Serve with the chips and mushy peas and some lemon if you like.

Serves 2

Olive Mag, April 2010

I think my fish fillet must have been a bit thicker than the one the recipe stated, 3 mins on each side would have resulted in a very raw fish center. I ended up throwing the fry pan (not literally!) in the bottom of the oven for 5 mins while the chips finished cooking, this resulted in a perfectly cooked fish fillet, moist and flaky. And the mushy peas were pretty good too ;0)