Fish Goujons with Dill Mayonnaise

goujon [ˈguːʒɒn]

n

(Cookery) a small strip of fish or chicken, coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried

[French, literally: gudgeon]

If you are anything like me, the kitchen activity you detest most is frying. Of any kind.

But like all boys of the XY sort, they all love fried food. Why? I have absolutely no idea because I don't. I think I was born lacking the "fried food gene". I even dislike tempura and everyone knows how much I adore Japanese food.

Leng and I are attempting to stick to Fish Fridays. The only problem is that the boy doesn't like seafood. Say what? Yes, you read right, he actually dislikes seafood - I can't believe it either!

Until he met Nigella and her fish goujons!

This simple recipe from her Nigella Express is pure genius. I can whip this is up in under 20 minutes and a Fish Friday supper is served.

I beg you to try this because Leng and I were simply bowled over by it. The only pointer I will say is to use the freshest fish as possible. I only purchase my fish from my favourite fishmonger from Prahran Market and I would never attempt this dish with Woolies bought fish.

Also, Japanese panko is muct finer and somewhat tastier than the Korean brands so go for those instead too. And finally, don't overfry your fish. Despite the goujon being crumbed and crunchy on the outside, the inside is moist, juicy and very sweet! You will get a hang of it after a few strips and know when to take them out of the oil.

Fish Goujons with Dill Mayonnnaise

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Ingredients:

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Nigella states 2 lemon sole fillets but I've never seen them in Melbourne so I used flathead instead which worked a treat

70g cornflour

100g panko

2 eggs

canola oil for shallow frying

salt & pepper, to taste

200g mayonanaise/salad cream

small bunch of dill

1 lemon

optional side: cornichons

Method:

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1) Cut your fresh fish of choice into small fillets

2) Put cornflour into a shallow bowl and season with salt and pepper. Put the panko into another shallow bowl and beat eggs in additional bowl

3) Dip each goujon into the seasoned cornflour, coating it well and then the beaten egg and finally the breadcrumbs

4) Fry goujons for about 2 minutes in the hot oil/until crisp and golden.

5) To make the dill dressing, you can use mayo but I prefer Krafts Lite Salad Cream

6) Put mayo/salad cream into a bowl with finely chopped dill and lemon and seasoning to taste

7) Serve dressing cold

Cornichons are just baby cucumbers, pickled and you can get them from Woolies in jars. They give an element of sweet and sour crunch and really tie the entire dish together. Do try it!


The dill dressing is simply out of this world! Dill is a herb I don't normally use in my kitchen but Leng and I really love it's aniseedy flavours. It's a very Swedish herb and I suggest making gravlax using the leftover dill.