17/06/2010 11:23:00
Filo Fish Fingers
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This recipe was taken from the fab book "Cooking With Kids" by Erin and Tatum Quon.
I liked the idea of making a tartare sauce from scratch, something I must admit I have never done.
And because everything nuggetty or fingery seems to be rolled in breadcrumbs, the idea of crunchy filo was a welcome change. |
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The Recipe
4 sheets of frozen filo dough (we had a pack of 6 sheets so we used them all)
75g melted butter
250g white fish fillets cut into 8 pieces (or we used 300g cut into 12 to use up the filo)
125ml mayo
1/4 stalk celery
2 tbsp gherkin relish (we didn't have any but we did have some pickled gherkins so we used them instead)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt (we used half this because we don't like salt very much)
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
First of all I had to lay out a sheet of filo and cut it in half to get two rough squares rather than a long oblong. I did this bit because I was worried it might drag and crumple if the knife hand was too tentative, but in retrospect Jacob probably could have handled it and I would leave it to him next time.
Then Jacob brushed the sheet with melted butter. This was a lot of fun.
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Then the fish pieces were placed on to the filo sheet and rolled as in the pictures below, first folding in the sides and then folding up in a roll. A bit of melted butter on the join at the end is there to help it hold together. The sheets in the book were very neat but ours were a bit raggedy due to the fact that they were a bit sticky when they defrosted. Morrisons seem to find it impossible not to overstock their freezers and everything always has an air of the defrosted-and-refrozen about them. Anyway it doesn't matter because the raggedy bits get rolled inside the fish finger.
We used pangasius fish from a sustainable farm, which we got from a fish delivery service, we haven't had it before and it's not any cheaper than cod but it has a brilliant cod like firm texture. But pollock would do just as well or of course cod, if you're not into the whole sustainable fishing thing.
The recipe includes a cute idea of sticking a lolly stick into the fish fingers before cooking, but we didn't do that, because frankly I was too tight fisted to buy them and didn't think the kids would appreciate them that much. If they had been younger I'd have done that, very sweet idea and stops them holding hot parcels when eating. We cooked them in the oven on a baking tray for about 15-20 minutes at 190 degrees C.
Then we made the tartare sauce. It's great, you just lob all the ingredients into the food processor (we used the little bowl as the quantities weren't huge). You could equally chop the celery and gherkins (if you don't have relish) up really finely and just mix in a bowl. But we used the mixer so Jacob could do it all. Couldn't have been easier.
That's all folks! For something which looks quite fancy for a fish finger, it's very easy and fun to make. We loved it and it came out really well. We're definitely making this again.
The Verdict
6/10 Anna (6) “I quite like the crunchy pastry but I am not keen on it with fish.”
8/10 Jacob (8) “Very hot when it comes out, it fills you up. It’s fishy but when you have it
with the tartare sauce it’s like KABOOM in your mouth.”
8/10 Mom "Fun to make and pretty successful. Nice change from breadcrumbs. Dipping in
the tartare sauce makes it much more interesting."
8/10 Dad "Great sauce, good crunch."
