Fish & Chips is one of my favorite dishes. The last go around of battering and frying just was about perfect.  Now I have a philosophy when it comes to making this dinner:  1. always have a green salad with it to balance out all that fired-ness  2. only pick one item to make from scratch, I usually go for doing the fish myself and finding some yummy frozen chips to bake up.

RECIPE: SAGE BEER BATTERED FISH

Serves 4

4 med-large Tilapia fillets cut into 4 strips each

Flour 2 cups

1 pint of beer — I prefer a brown ale or stout

1 egg

1 TBSP chopped sage

1 Tsp pepper

1/2 Tsp chopped tyhme

1/4 cup vegetable oil

*First make your batter. In a medium size bowl whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour with sage, thyme and pepper. Beat egg into flour mixture, gradually add in beer till a thick batter forms, almost as thick as pancake batter.

*Dust Tilapia strips in remaining flour. Add Tilapia to beer bater coating heavily.  I often leave the strips in the batter till I need them.

*Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Once heated add in Tilapia from batter. The key to frying perfectly, don’t get your oil too hot, once heated lower temp to low-med-low and don’t over crowd the fish in the pan.

*Cook Tilapia till fish is heated thru and batter has become a golden brown color, roughly fry each piece for 10-15 minutes depending on size of fish.

*Serve with Malt Vinegar and tartar sauce!