Fish and Chip Butty with Shellfish Butter

Ingredients:

Fish:

4 fillets fresh fish

1/2 bottle of cold beer, approx

3/4c self-raising flour

salt and pepper

1/2c plain flour

oil for deep frying

Chips:

4 -5 large floury potatoes, like agria

Sea salt

Seafood butter:

100 gm Westgold butter, soft

100 gm cooked shellfish, chopped

2T lemon juice

1t lemon zest

2-3T tomato chutney, warm

2T fresh herbs, chopped

salt and pepper

To serve:

1 cobb loaf white bread

Lemon wedges to serve

Method:

Fish: 

To make the batter, put the self-raising flour, salt and pepper into a bowl.  Make a well in the centre and pour in the beer a little at the time, whisking to a smooth batter.  Rest in the fridge before using for 15 mins.  Heat the oil to 180deg.  Season the plain flour and coat the fish fillets.  Dip into the batter and fry a few minutes on each side until golden and crisp.  Drain on paper towels and season with sea salt.

Chips:

Heat the oven to 160deg.  Prick the potatoes and bake unpeeled for around 30 mins until just cooked.  Leave to cool.  Cut into chips and refrigerate until needed.  Heat the oil to 180deg, and cook the chips in two batches until golden and crispy.  Drain on paper towels and season with sea salt. 

Seafood butter:

Place the soft butter into a bowl.  Add the shellfish, juice and zest, chutney & herbs and mix together with a fork until combined.  You can make this seafood butter in a food processor if you prefer a smoother spread. Keep at room temperature for easy spreading.

To assemble:

Slice the cobb loaf into eight slices.  Spread top and bottom with a generous layer of seafood butter.  Place on the cooked chips on the bottom layer of bread & top with the other slice.

Serve on a warmed plate with the fried fish and lemon wedges.

NB: We used prawns in the butter, but you could use cooked mussels or oysters, or a mixture of any seafood.  Make sure it is well dried on a paper towel before adding. We used golden potatoes and gurnard fish fillets in these recipes.