Fish goujons with a smooth tartare sauce
Oven-baked, so the crumb turns gold without a pan of hot oil to watch
Scales up on the same tray. Allow an extra few minutes in the oven if the tray is fuller.
Fish goujons are fish fingers with slightly more care taken over them, cut by hand from a single fillet and given a proper crumb rather than a shop-bought one. Baked rather than fried, the crumb still turns an even, deep gold, and it does it while you make the sauce and clear up. The tartare sauce keeps the idea of the original without the parts of it that cause trouble. No chopped gherkin, no capers, nothing with a skin or a seed. What is left is mayonnaise sharpened with lemon juice and a little smooth mustard, which does almost all the same work on the tongue. A goujon eaten straight from the tray, before the crumb has softened under the sauce, is a different thing from one that has sat and waited.
Ingredients
Contains: Fish, Gluten, Egg, Mustard
- 175 gwhite fish, such as cod, haddock or pollock, skinless and boneless, cut into 2 cm strips
- 30 gplain white flour
- salt
- 1egg, beaten
- 60 gwhite breadcrumbs
- 1 tbspvegetable oil
- 3 tbspmayonnaise
- 1 tsplemon juice
- ½ tspsmooth mustard
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Put the flour and a pinch of salt on one plate, the beaten egg in a shallow bowl, and the breadcrumbs on a second plate.
Turn each strip of fish first through the flour, shaking off the excess, then through the egg, then through the breadcrumbs, pressing gently so they stick all over.
Lay the strips on the tray, spaced apart, and drizzle with the oil. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, turning once, until the crumb is golden all over and the fish is cooked through and flakes easily.
While the goujons bake, stir the mayonnaise, lemon juice and mustard together in a small bowl until smooth.
Serve the goujons hot with the tartare sauce alongside.
Watch-points
- Use white breadcrumbs only. Wholemeal breadcrumbs and any labelled wholegrain are off the list.
- Keep the tartare sauce completely smooth. Leave out the chopped gherkin and capers a shop-bought tartare usually carries.
- Check the fish fillet for stray pin bones before you cut it into strips.
Make it more nourishing
- Add 15 g of finely grated Parmesan to the breadcrumbs. It browns well and puts more protein into the crumb.
- Add an extra tablespoon of mayonnaise to the tartare.
- Serve with a knob of butter melted over the goujons once they are out of the oven.
Swaps
- Instead of mayonnaise, use half mayonnaise, half smooth yoghurt
- lighter, and equally easy to stir together
- Instead of white fish, use peeled prawns, left whole
- cooks in less time, so start checking them from about 8 minutes