Last weekend, eldest daughter roped me into walking the dog with her. As we made our way, throwing the ball and trying to get the mutt to retrieve, the conversation fell, as it so often does, to food. Eldest put it to me that, despite my best efforts, she had an ongoing hankering for fish fingers and beans. I accused her of idiocy or some such but the thought stuck with me.
Later in the morning we found ourselves in the queue in George’s Fish Shop. (Recently voted an Irish Times top 50 retailer. This accolade does not impress me as I had been enjoying it as a reasonably well-kept secret without the queues.) Fine chunky haddock was on special and a plan began to form.
Everything you will need for a traditional supper.
From the fishmonger queue (with two fine pieces of fresh haddock) to the supermarket queue to pick up the second half of the ingredients. We bought four kinds of beans – Lentils, Cannellini, Aduki and Butter Beans. We had some garden peas so those got added as did a couple of shallots and some pine nuts. While we are queueing, cue picture of pine nuts roasting in the pan:
Pine nuts add a lovely smokey crunch. Particularly if you over-fry them like I did.
The cooking instructions are pretty straightforward. Open the bean tins. Rinse and dry the beans. Cue picture of beans drying:
Any mix of beans will do. These worked very well together. Different colours, textures and sizes add to the interest.
Chop the shallot and pod the peas. Add to the beans in a bowl. Cue picture of all that:
Not much for me to say about this. Lovely colours.
Skin and slice the fish into finger sizes. If you are having difficulty, you can work this out by holding your hand in front of your face. Cue picture of perfectly formed fingers:
Based on these fingers, I have pretty odd-looking hands. Still, the fish was beautifully fresh.
Dip the fingers (fish, not yours) in beaten egg. Dredge them in breadcrumbs. I used some from my huge sack of Panko that I inadvertently purchased a couple of months ago. (If you want some, call around with a bag. Make it a big bag.) Fry them in a mix of cooking oil and butter. Serve with the beans. Cue picture of fish fingers and beans:
Fairly fancy stuff. The lime wedge adds a touch of class to the proceedings.
These were really incredibly flavoursome and simple to prepare. Eldest daughter and the Wife were impressed. I was impressed. I hope you are too. Cue one more shot:
Just look at that fish. This one is ‘a keeper’ as they say in kitchens and on fishing boats.
Enjoy it if you will. That’s my cue to exit.
Nice plate!
I have a press full of them in all shapes and sizes. They can’t go in the microwave for heating so they tend to not get used. I’ll try to feature them more often.
Not a great fish fan, but I could definitely go for that. Liked the idea of the bean mixture. Must remember that when my vegie daughter comes visiting.
It’s really, really easy and very tasty, even for us meat eaters!
Fresh haddock is always available but I’ve never thought to make fish fingers…usually just cook it whole. Your way, I’ll have lots of crunchy crumbs surrounding the fish.
I was very pleased with this Karen. Give it a go. I’ll even post you the panko.
Fish fingers are one of my secret pleasures and I’ve not made them for ages. Your look fab! Just out of curiosity, how does one inadvertently acquire enormous quantities of panko..?
I buy my oriental stuff in a wholesaler’s owned by a friend of mine. The language barrier got the better of me when talking with one of his staff who went to great lengths to get me my panko. It turned out to be a big sack. I was committed at that stage….
Ah, I had a similar thing with an oriental supermarket in Oxford. I used to shop there while I was at uni but we don’t have anything like it where I live now, so last time I visited Oxford I ended up coming home with an enormous bag of sushi rice and more pickled ginger than I knew what to do with.
Nothing worse than your local place getting a good write up (whether its a restaurant, pub or shop) and suddenly everyone is there. Fresh is best, the only way to eat food
I know what you mean. I suspect that the team in George’s would not agree.
I will most definitely be trying this dish out! Yum! It looks like a really healthy tasty version of a favourite childhood comfort food! I love peas and beans, I will try that side salad with a few different things
Super simple and tasty. Just how I like it.
Those are lovely gourmet fish fingers which rightly put the supermarket crap to shame
Too true. Doing our research, we came across Birds Eye ‘Omega 3′ Fish fingers at €5 for 16 or €6 for 30. Must be great quality…
We love fish fingers around here. Wonderful recipe and I will be trying it on my son very, very soon!
I got a good idea for dinner today! Multiple beans and frying fish… Sounds good!
Very lucky family! A lot of worthy effort for those you love and some of the most gourmet fish fingers, aka goujons I’ve seen in a while
I tried to avoid using the G word (goujons) as I thought I could do a similar dish and call it something fancier in a later post!
Fish fingers are fish sticks here. These look great as does the side of beans. Like the idea of browning the pine nuts! I will have to try that on the next round with those little gems!
My best – B
Thanks Barb.
I’m hungry again and I just ate. Stop doing this to me!
Happy to make you suffer Sanjiv. Happy Sunday, Conor
I love ‘Merluzza dorata’ as this would be called in Italian. Never had fish with beans before, is that an Irish combination?
By the way, the way to toast pine nuts evenly as well as easily is in the oven, 10-15 mins at 150-200C.