Fish!

[moon_custafer]

Price Chopper/FreshCo had a sale last week on frozen bala fillets (2 for $2, where one is usually enough for a light dinner for two), so I bought a bunch and have been defrosting and cooking them in various ways. Tonight I tried frying them in batter, which turned out to be the tastiest so far. I've never made battered fish at home before. I used this batter recipe (scaled down); they didn't say how to actually fry the fish, but another recipe I'd looked at had said to pat them dry, roll them in some flour and then dip them in the batter. Another site said to make the batter thicker than you think it ought to be, and it will be lighter when it's cooked. I followed these ideas and then put the battered pieces into a pot with about an inch and a half of hot olive oil in the bottom. The batter turned a lovely golden brown, but when I cut the fish open it was still raw inside. So I put it in the microwave to finish it. Then for the second half of the fish, I tried zapping it for a minute *before* putting it in the batter. Andrew seems to think both turned out well, but if I have to cheat, I prefer the second method.

Scottishness Score +3

Comments

[donald hutton (from livejournal.com)]

Sounds scrumptious! I always have trouble scaling the recipes down. It seems to be a non-linear scale and most recipes seem to be for a sit-down dinner for twelve.

[barry-king.livejournal.com]

My favourite lazy-ass recipe for frozen fish filets is to put the filet on a piece of tinfoil, sprinkle it with olive oil or a slice of butter, a squeeze of lemon (sometimes a thin slice, but that's a little strong for bala; more of a salmon thing), a sprinkle of salt & pepper, and maybe some thyme or rosemary if I have it lying around. Fold the tinfoil over and fold-seal it around the edges and put it in a 400 oven for about 1/2 hour. There's enough juice inside afterwards that you can tear it open onto cooked rice already on the plate to soak it up.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. Do you thaw it first or put it in the tinfoil frozen?

[barry-king.livejournal.com]

I add 10 mins. for frozen.