Homemade fish fingers

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 large free-range egg, beaten
• 50g/1¾oz golden breadcrumbs (if not available, substitute with 30g/1oz fresh white breadcrumbs mixed with 20g/½oz easy-cook polenta)
• 500g/1lb2oz thick skinless white fish fillets
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil
• frozen peas, to serve
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Put the flour in a strong freezer bag and season with salt and black pepper. Pour the beaten egg into a shallow dish. Put the breadcrumbs (or breadcrumb and polenta mixture) in a separate shallow dish.

2. Gently toss each fish piece in the seasoned flour bag until evenly coated, then dip into the beaten egg then the breadcrumbs until evenly coated. Put the prepared fish pieces on a plate.

3. Heat the oil in a deep heavy-based frying pan until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped into it. Add the fish fingers carefully and fry for 5–6 minutes, turning occasionally until golden brown and crisp on all sides. (You may need to do this in batches.) Remove the fish with a spatula and drain on kitchen paper.

4. Bring a pot of water to the boil, and cook the frozen peas for 2-3 minutes or until soft. Drain.

5. Serve the fish fingers with the peas.

Tips

To freeze the fish fingers, line a baking tray with cling film and place the uncooked fish fingers on top. Cover with cling film and freeze for 2 hours, or until completely frozen, then transfer to freezer bags. The fish fingers can be cooked from frozen (follow step 3).