Take a step back to childhood and celebrate the best artisan food producers of South Australia with a fish finger sandwich that's just a little bit fancy.

Recipe Rosa Matto | Styling Natalia Homan | Photograph Brendan Homan

Posh fish finger sandwich with triple-cooked chips
serves 6 

triple-cooked chips
Zest of 1 lemon, finely cut
1 tsp salt
1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
1kg kipfler potatoes, peeled and cut into chips
Neutral oil such as sunflower 

Allow the lemon zest to dry out at room temperature for a couple of hours, then mix into salt and pepper.

Wash the chips into a bowl under several changes of water to wash the starch off. Bring the potatoes to boil in water. Cook for about 15 minutes. Using a pair of tongs, remove the boiled chips onto a clean tea towel and put in the fridge for an hour or so.

Heat the oil in a fryer or saucepan to 130C. You should not have oil above the half-way point of your pan. When the oil reaches the temperature, fry the chips in small batches until a light crust forms. This will take about 5 minutes.

Drain on kitchen paper over a rack. Put the potatoes back in the fridge for another hour or so.

Heat the oil in the deep-fat fryer or pan to 190C and fry the chips until golden. This will take about 8 minutes. Drain and sprinkle with lemon salt and pepper.

rouille
2 egg yolks
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 tbsp tomato paste
200ml olive oil

Process yolk, garlic, mustard, cayenne and tomato paste in a food processor until well combined. With motor running, add oil in a thin steady stream until incorporated and rouille is thick. Season to taste, set aside until required.

Meyer lemon relish
2 small Meyer lemons
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp capers, rinsed
1 garlic clove, mashed smooth
12 stems parsley, leaves only, chopped
spring onion, chopped very finely
salt and pepper

Put lemon into cold water and bring to boil for 3 minutes. Drain and repeat the boiling. Drain. Cut in half and remove pips. Put entire lemons, skins and all, into a food processor and add the oil very gradually. Remove and add the capers, garlic, parsley and spring onion. Season.

lightly pickled cucumber
Using a potato peeler, cut a cucumber into long strips, avoiding the seeds. Put into a bowl with ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp sugar and pour over 2 tbsp vinegar. Leave for at least 1 hour. 

Coorong mullet
300g Coorong mullet fillets from Coorong Wild Seafood.
100g flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
100g panko crumbs
extra virgin olive oil

Pat the mullet dry with paper towel. Dip the fillets into the flour, then into the eggs and finally into the crumbs. Heat the oil in a frypan and lightly fry. Drain on paper towel.

to assemble
Muratti white bread
Small World Bakery spelt miche
cos lettuce
butter

Cut slices of white bread and the spelt miche and butter. Generously smear both with rouille. Top one side with cos lettuce, a piece of Coorong mullet, cucumber slices and a sprinkle of the relish. Top with the other slice and cut into neat fingers. Serve with lemon salt chips and extra rouille.

 

This recipe first appeared in the September 2020 issue of SALIFE magazine.