Gluten-free fish and chips

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Gluten intolerant? Still fancy "chippie" flavoured battered fish? With very little effort, you can make your own fish and chips at home.

First published in 2015

Fish and chips, the nation’s favourite take away and still popular even in these days of pizza, Chinese and Indian food; even during WW2, fish and chips were never rationed, as it was thought it might affect morale too much! It’s still my favourite take away meal and fish and chips were always a treat on Friday night when I was growing up, served with sliced bread and butter, as well as the ubiquitous salt and malt vinegar.

However, if you are gluten intolerant, it’s hard to find a chippy that offers a gluten free alternative, as most fish is either fried in a batter made with flour, or coated in breadcrumbs. But, fear not, for very little effort and with bags of that special “chippy flavour”, you can make your own fish and chips at home, and they will be gluten free. Just serve them with some mushy or marrowfat peas and you have a fish supper treat to enjoy at home.

My recipe for Gluten Free Fish and Chips is easy and fairly fuss free – whilst you pan fry your fish in a frying pan on top of the stove, your chunky chips are cooking in the oven, with the minimum of mess. I find this a less stressful way of preparing fish and chips at home, and you also save on a few calories too! Make sure you use sustainable British fish, British potatoes and a good home-grown rapeseed oil and you’ll be rewarded with a meal of the highest quality.

The gluten free coating I have used this time are the very handy rice crumbs, which are very easy to find in most supermarkets, independent shops and I have even seen them in some farm shops too. You can also use cornflake crumbs too – just crush them in a plastic bag and they are ready for coating your fish. Other gluten free crumbs that are suitable are cornmeal, cornflour and also gluten-free bread crumbs of course.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

  • 4 cod fillets, or haddock, hake, pollack or coley
  • rice crumbs, or cornflake crumbs, for coating
  • vegetable oil, or rapeseed oil, for frying
  • 900g of potatoes, peeled and cut into chunky chips
  • salt
  • black pepper
  • malt vinegar
  • 1 lemon

Method

1
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7
2
Place the cut chips into a large bag and season generously with sea salt and black pepper. Add the oil and shake the potato chips in the bag so they are evenly coated on the seasoning and oil
3
Place a large roasting tray in the hot oven to heat up for about 5 minutes and then tip the potato chips in and move them around, making sure they are in a single layer. Bake them for about 45 to 50 minutes; it depends on the type of potatoes you use. You can turn them around after 20 minutes or so to brown evenly
4
10 to 15 minutes before the chips are cooked, fry your fish; coat the fish fillets or fish steaks in the rice crumbs or cornflakes and fry them gently in the vegetable/rapeseed oil in a large frying pan. Turn them over half way through cooking and cook until the fish is cooked and looks opaque
5
Serve the freshly fried fish with the chips; peas are a traditional accompaniment as are slices of lemon, salt and vinegar
First published in 2015

Karen Burns-Booth is a freelance food & travel writer, recipe developer and food stylist with a passion for local, seasonal ingredients.

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