Shirtless Chef says “Crikey, it’s The Rozzers!” – Fish & Chips are on the menu this week

Local fitness enthusiast Jason Murphy remakes favorite meals of his youth into healthy dishes. See the full list of his recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.

I’ve always loved British pop culture. From Monty Python, The Young Ones, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as a teenager, to Peaky Blinders, Broadchurch, and Top Gear as an adult, I find myself immersed in British culture. Sometimes it’s easy to forget with all the deep-fried battered fish fast food places around here that Fish and Chips is the quintessential British pub food. I used to love getting a big 3-piece fish combo with fries and hush puppies. Of course, it all tasted the same as the food was fried in the same tired used vegetable oil and dipped in the same batter.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that eating a meal like that is definitely not Shirtless Chef approved. That meal runs about 750 calories with 90 grams of fat, none of it the good kind your body can use. Of course, if you add in the large coke, that’s an additional 500 calories and 135 grams of simple carbs, which pushes the meal over 1250 calories. If you are trying to stay around the “normal” intake of 2000 calories a day, that’s going to be a problem. I would tell you the sodium content, but I don’t think my calculator can add up a number that big. It’s safe to say, it would be enough to bloat you up enough to float across the English Channel like a jellyfish.

By now, you know the mantra around here. We can overhaul any food and make it healthy. Battered and fried fish is no different. It just takes a few different ingredients and proper frying technique. Peanut oil will be our weapon of choice, with its high monounsaturated fat content giving it a high smoke point, and it also brings Vitamin E to the party in large quantities. When an oil hits its smoke points, it starts to break down chemically, creating funky tastes and compounds that are detrimental to our health. We will be cooking our fish at 355 degrees, well south of Peanut oil’s capability, so we will be well in the safe zone. Use a thermometer to carefully maintain the temperature, because if the oil gets too cold, that’s when the food absorbs the oil and becomes a greasy mess.

When you first drop the fish in, you might have to give it the spurs for a few minutes so the thermal shock of the cold fish doesn’t cause the oil to drop too many degrees. Maintaining that 355 temp will ensure you get all the crispy brown goodness without the oil getting in the food. I use wild caught haddock here, but any firm and mild white fish will do. Stay away from any foreign farm raised fish. Read the labels carefully, and use wild caught seafood labeled with Product of USA or Iceland only. You do not want to know what the waters of fish farmed overseas contain, but let’s just say Ed Norton from The Honeymooners would feel right at home working there.

I serve this up with cauliflower Mac and Cheese, jicama fries, and homemade tartar sauce. As a rule, I stay away from fried foods, but using this method and ingredients will allow you to enjoy authentic battered fried fish every now and again without killing your waistline, or yourself by having to drive on the wrong side of the road to get to the pub. Neither the Food Police here nor the Rozzers in Merry Old England can pull you over this way.

English Style Battered Fish:

2 lbs frozen wild caught haddock filets – thawed and cut into 1/2 inch strips
1/4 cup unflavored grass fed protein powder
1 tsp sea salt – divided, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
2/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup sparkling water
2 tsp baking powder
2 free range eggs
Peanut oil

Instructions:

Thaw the haddock fillets overnight in the fridge. Make sure to take them out of the individual plastic pouch first and thaw in a covered glass container like a casserole dish.

Pat dry the fish with paper towels. Cut into 1/2 inch strips and season with 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper. Fill a dutch oven pot 3/4 of the way full with peanut oil and set over medium heat.

Whisk the protein powder, almond flour, baking powder, and the 1/2 tsp of sea salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika together in a large bowl. Whisk the two eggs and sparkling water in a separate bowl until well combined. Pour the wet team onto the dry team and stir with a spatula until completely mixed and smooth. Set aside for 10 minutes while the oil heats. After the 10 minutes have past, add the cut fish in and mix well, coating the fish completely.

Check the oil temp to make sure the temp is at 355 degrees. Carefully and slowly drop the fish in, working in small batches depending on the size of your dutch oven pot or deep fryer. I needed three batches to cook in mine. Continue to monitor the temp and adjust the burner as needed:

Cook for 4 – 5 minutes until the fish are floating and golden brown. Move to an inverted wire rack set on a cooking sheet lined with paper towels to drain. Cover loosely with foil while you cook the rest of the fish:

I cook the jicama fries earlier in the day and reheat in a skillet with a little avocado oil while the fish are cooking. I make the cauliflower mac and cheese before starting the fish and keep it warm in the oven also while the fish are cooking:

If you want to make the mac and cheese, jicama fries, and tartar sauce, the links below will take you to my previous articles where I show how to make them: