Tuesday 21 April 2015

Fish finger butty with watercress and home-made tartar sauce


As Beatle fans will know; if a Liverpudlian asks you ‘four a fish n’ finger pie’; they may not be referring to lemon sole goujons.

Back to basics this evening; an embellished version of a classic comfort dish.  The secret of a fish finger butty (sandwich) is the bread must be white, soft and spread with real butter.  The fish fingers should be chunky as possible and straight from the oven so they melt the butter and contrast with the bread.  A handful of something green adds some posh and it all starts to get a bit gastro-pub.  I used watercress which was ideal for adding a peppery crunch.  
A homemade tartar sauce lifts the whole thing up a notch and is just a simple variation on mayonnaise.  Add finely chopped shallot or onion, chopped gherkins, capers, fresh parsley and lots of lemon juice and seasoning.  As on this occasion, it can often be pulled together from store cupboard ingredients.  I rarely make my own mayonnaise, and I don’t think that would work for this use either – too buttery.  I only added shallot, lemon juice and chopped watercress to tartar this evening and it was a last minute addition.  Keeping it simple worked just fine.  Serve tartar straight from the fridge as it needs to be cold to contrast with the warm fish.  Kids and husband loved it.  Also served a bowl of peas and chopped watercress mixed in, which everyone ate.

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