Food: My Latest Invention

| Published Saturday, 26 April 2014


My first food post! I'm excited. 

The night before last I had a familiar feeling: needing some dinner but not feeling like making anything. I was cooking for myself and someone else. I was tired, a bit sick and didn’t want to do much. I’d planned to do a chicken curry but I just couldn’t be bothered waiting to defrost the chicken and standing over a hot stove. I had a couple heads of cos lettuce lurking in the fridge, some Dijon mustard, mayo, and a lemon. There were also some ready-crumbed fish fillets in the freezer. So I went with what I had, and the result was a delicious, easy TV dinner – an unconventional lovechild of a Caesar salad and good old Kiwi fish and chips, if you can imagine that. (If you’re a food snob or an authentic Caesar salad fanatic, please cover your eyes! I say stuff the rules – it tastes great and that’s all that matters!)

I didn't get a photo - we were too busy eating it - so you'll just have to use your imagination.


Crumbed Fish Salad with Caesar Dressing and Chips

You’ll need:

Crumbed fish fillets
Cos lettuce (any crunchy lettuce will do in a pinch)
Other salad ingredients, if you like
Ingredients for Caesar salad dressing
Grapeseed or olive oil
Parmesan cheese to serve
The phone number of your favourite chip shop



If your crumbed fish fillets are frozen, get them out now and put them in the microwave for a few minutes on 10% power to defrost gently.

Now get the Caesar dressing ready. I used this recipe here. If you don’t have anchovy paste, don’t worry – it will still taste great. Taste to adjust and make it nice and lemony to complement the fish. Set in the fridge while you make the salad. Tear the cos lettuce and place in big, wide bowls. Add any other salad ingredients you like – baby spinach, small tomato wedges, even some pieces of crispy fried bacon if you have some.

Now call the fish and chip store and order your chips. If you can, send someone else to pick them up, or you can get everything ready before you duck out to get the chips.

Get out your heavy-based frypan to cook the fish. The salad is done and the dressing is in the fridge. Now go out and get the chips. When you get back, heat your frypan to medium heat. Fry the fish fillets quickly in a bit of grapeseed or olive oil, a couple minutes each side. Don’t overcook.

(As a side note, if you eat gluten free, like me, then the ready-made crumbed fish won’t work for you. I used the crumbed fish for my friend, and for myself I used a fresh monkfish fillet and sprinkled a bit of garlic salt on each side before I fried it. Delicious.)

Once your fish is cooked, set on a piece of paper towel to absorb the extra oil. Then slice it in big diagonal pieces. Arrange on top of the salad and spoon over the dressing. Grate some extra parmesan cheese on the top if you like. Put the extra dressing in a bowl to dip chips in.

Now deposit yourself in front of the TV, tuck in to the fish salad and eat the chips with your fingers straight from the newspaper. Delicious.

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