Good morning everyone and happy Monday! Today on 30 minutes or less we are going to take a look at an absolute classic. We are going to make a version of Fish Fingers with fries. But, rather than having fries we are going to make really delicious pan-roasted potatoes. The fish fingers are going to be homemade. And, we are going to make a delicious sauce to go with them.
What are we waiting for? Let’s get to it. This is…
7:45 pm – Getting Started
I started cooking at 7:45 pm. The first thing I did was get the oven going. I turned it on to 425°F. I also put an oven-safe pan on the stove and turned it on over medium heat.
With the oven on and the pan heating up, I started working on the potatoes. I used 4 Yukon gold potatoes (any yellow flesh variety will work) I cut them into wedges, about 8 per potatoes. Once they were cut I set them aside for a minute while the pan finished heating up.
7:47 pm – Carrot
I had just enough time to peel a carrot before the pan was hot enough to add in the potatoes.
7:48 pm – Potatoes in the pan
At this point, the pan for the potatoes (I used a castiron pan) was ready to go. I added in about 2 tbsp of olive oil, added the potatoes in, and then seasoned them well with salt and pepper. I tossed the potatoes to make sure they were coated in oil and to evenly distribute the seasoning. Then, I left them alone to cook and sear.
4:49 pm – Cutting the Vegetables
We all know that we can’t have a well-balanced meal without a nice big serving of vegetables, right? So, with the potatoes cooking it was time to start prepping the veg.
I thinly sliced the carrot that I peeled while waiting for the pan to heat up. Next, I sliced half a red bell pepper. To the carrot and bell pepper, I added a big handful of fresh green beans. That’s it.
You may notice that I often cut vegetables on an angle. In cooking, we call this cutting on a bias. This is done because it looks more professional. However, there is a secondary reason. When cutting round vegetables like carrots, or even green onions or chives, they have a tendency to roll away if they are cut straight. Cutting them on an angle keeps them in place and prevents them from rolling onto the floor.
7:51 pm – Sauce
Before I got into making the sauce I made sure to give the potatoes a big stir to prevent them from burning on the bottom. This also helps to ensure a more even browning on the potatoes.
The sauce I made for my fish fingers is called a sweet chilli sauce. You may have had it at restaurants or even bought it at the grocery store. It is the easiest sauce in the world to make. I’m serious.
All you need to make the sauce is…
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4-1/2 tsp red chilli flakes (crushed red pepper flakes)
Those four ingredients get put in a pot, brought to a boil and then simmered for about 10 minutes. That’s it. Not only is this sauce delicious and ridiculously easy to make but because of the high sugar and acid content, it will virtually last forever in the fridge.
So, at 7:51 pm I measured out all the ingredients for the sauce. Put them all in a pot on the stove and turned the burner on high then I moved on to my next task.
7:52 pm – Potatoes in the oven
By 7:52 the potatoes were looking pretty brown and ready to go in the oven. I gave them a quick stir and popped them in the oven on one of the center racks.
7:53 pm – Setting up the breading
At this point, I’ve been cooking for almost 10 minutes and haven’t even touched the fish yet. I’d say it’s about time I did. But, in order to do that, I first need to get my stuff set up for my breading.
I am going to use what is known as the standard breading procedure. It’s the same process I used to make the turkey fingers in the 5 Turkey Hors D’oeuvres post. The basic idea is that the food you are breading is first dusted in flour which sticks to the food. Then it is dipped in some beaten egg that sticks to the flour. Finally, it is rolled in bread crumbs that stick to the egg. This process gives you a really solid bread coating that is going to stick to the food.
The flour and bread crumbs I used for this are gluten-free but you can obviously just use the regular stuff. First up, I combined 1 cup of flour with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. I used a fork to stir it up then set it aside. I measured out 1 cup of bread crumbs and I beat 2 eggs.
With the breading station set up and out of the way I also took this time to grease a sheet pan. I used about 2-3 tbsp of olive oil and evenly spread it on the sheet pan. It may seem like a lot of oil. Honestly, it could probably use more. The oil isn’t so much there so that fish doesn’t stick to the pan. It is actually going to help crisp up and brown the breading. I highly recommend you don’t cut this oil back.
7:56 pm – Fish
Right around this time, the sauce started to boil. I turned it down to a simmer and left it alone.
Now, it was time to get to work on the fish. I used 3 haddock fillets which made enough for about 4 people. I first cut the loin (the thicker part of the fillet) off, then cut that into 2 or 3 fingers depending on how thick it was. Next, I cut the other half of the fillets into finger-sized pieces too.
7:56 pm – Bread the fish
With the fish cut, it was now time to bread it. Each piece went into the flour first then the beaten egg, and then the bread crumbs. Once the fish fingers were breaded they got placed on the greased sheet pan. I left about a 1/2 inch between each finger. This helps them to cook and brown more evenly.
Once all the fish was breaded and on the sheet pan, I put them in the oven on the center rack. I set a 7-minute timer and left them alone.
Since I was opening the oven anyway I took this opportunity to give the potatoes a quick stir. Then I washed and dried my cutting board and wiped down my counters.
8:04 pm – Pan on for veg.
Once everything was clean I put a pan on over medium-high heat for the vegetables. I let it heat up for about 2 minutes then added in 2 tsp of grapeseed oil along with the vegetables and a bit of salt and pepper. Next, I sautéed the vegetables for about 3 minutes, put a lid on the pan and took them off the heat. I let the vegetables sit until the rest of the food was cooked.
This technique with the vegetables was something I came up with the other day. Essentially, you sauté the vegetables in a bit of oil in a really hot pan with a bit of salt and pepper. The vegetables get cooked only until they are heated through. This takes about 3-4 minutes. Then the pan gets covered and taken off the heat. As the vegetables sit they release moisture which condenses and falls back down on them and onto the surface of the hot pan. Essentially, the vegetables steam in their own juices.
I have used this technique multiple times now, with multiple varieties of fresh vegetables and they have come out perfect every single time.
At this point, I also took the sauce off the heat and set it aside.
8:09 pm – Flip the fish
Okay, at this point the sauce is done, the vegetables are sitting off the heat with the lid on and there is still some time left to go. I took the fish out of the oven, flipped each piece, then popped them back in. I also gave the potatoes one last stir.
8:15 pm – Dinner is ready
At 8:15 the fish and potatoes came out of the oven and were perfectly cooked. The vegetables were hot and ready. And the sauce was good to go. It looked to me like dinner was ready.
Conclusion
This is the exact type of meal I ate a lot growing up. The difference is that this version was all homemade. But, what’s interesting is that even though it was all homemade, it took about the same amount of time as the boxed, store-bought stuff. Honestly, I made this in 30 minutes and you can too. Oh, and you can even make extra fish fingers and freeze them. Why not right?
Thanks for reading and enjoy the recipe! Oh, and it would mean a lot to me if you could share this on Facebook, Pinterest, or wherever you prefer.
Thanks everybody, see you Wednesday!
Ingredients
- 3 fillets Haddock
- 1 cup Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs
- 1 cup Gluten-Free Flour
- 2 Eggs, beaten
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Pepper
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup White Vinegar
- 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes (crushed red pepper) more or less depending on tolerance
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°f
- Combine the salt and pepper with the flour and stir.
- Pour the olive oil onto a baking sheet and spread evenly.
- Dip the fish in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs and place on the sheet pan with at least 1/2 an inch of space between each finger.
- Put the fish in the oven for 7-8 minutes, flip and then bake for an additional 7-8 minutes or until the fish is cooked.
- While the fish is in the oven combine the water, vinegar, sugar, and chilli and bring to a boil.
- Turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes.
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