What to eat this weekend: Fish n’ courgette chips with homemade tartar sauce

The humble courgette is transformed into light, tasty “chips”. It feels like you’re cheating, just try not to eat the whole tray yourself! And remember, these need to be cooked just before you’re ready to serve. The homemade tartar sauce is next-level too, you’ll never pick up a shop-bought jar again.

Jane Kennedy’s fish n’ zucchini chips
Serves 4 (the zucchini chips recipe serves 6)

Ingredients

For the fish

• 100g ground almonds
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 flathead or whiting fillets
• extra-virgin olive oil for frying
• lemon or lime wedges to serve

For the courgette chips

• 2-3 large courgettes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• pinch of dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

For the tartare sauce

• 1 tbsp Greek yoghurt
  
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
  
• 1 tbsp chopped cornichons
  
• 1 tbsp capers, rinsed and chopped
  
• 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Using a vegetable peeler or mandoline, shave enough thin slices of zucchini to cover the baking trays. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and chilli flakes and flick over the olive oil.
2. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the chips turn a really golden brown. Take them out of the oven and let them cool on the baking tray until they feel crisp.
3. Place the ground almonds on a large plate and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.Coat each fish fillet lightly with the ground almond mixture and set aside.
4. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the fish and cook for about 3 minutes, then carefully turn and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and place on a paper towel.
5.  To make the tartare sauce, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.
6. Serve the fish with tartare sauce, zucchini chips, and lemon or lime wedges.

Extracted from The Big Book of Fabulous Food by Jane Kennedy (Hardie Grant), out now. Photography by Mark Roper.