Fish sticks with tartar sauce / Fish fingers / Panko crusted fish sticks/ Finger food / Fish recipe / Thank you Easyfoodsmith

Baked fish sticks / fish finger ,do I need to say any thing more!!

Recently  Taruna of Easy Food Smith blog conducted a giveaway and I had a brain freeze again guess what I won the book that you see below written by Alana Chernila. Thank you so much Taruna for going through all the pains of shipping it to this side of the globe.We exchanged a lot of emails before I could locate the parcel.But I must say however long it takes there is always the thrill of opening a present.

The book says 'stop buying and start making'. I went through the book and I was really happy to know that I was already making some of the things listed in it like hummus, yogurt, jam, salsa ,salad dressings , lentil soup, corn bread,  ice cream, pizza and a few other recipes.U know the feeling u have when you open a textbook before exams and start looking at the pages there is some sort of relief when you are thorough you go oh I know that!! and that and that!!! there is suddenly a wave of energy reassuring that you are prepared.   It boosts your confidence don't you think so.I  was feeling the same as I turned the pages until I reached frozen food section I could check off some of those except fish sticks and chicken nuggets.Out of the two we have bought so much fish sticks ( Gorton brand) that the owners would have earned enough to buy a beach front home by now.:)))
When I saw how  easy and straight forward this finger food  recipe was I was asking myself why din't I do this earlier.Phew !! I have few more to dos in the list like graham crackers,coffee liqueur etc..

Before I go to the ingredients  
I could not take step by step pics for the simple reason being I had to use both my hands. Using just one hand would ruin a lot of bread crumbs with drippings.
As per the recipe given in the book fish goes through 3 coats that is dust with al.fl moisten with egg and again dust with bread crumbs but instead of  egg part I used all purpose flour batter.Believe me the whole place is saved from the eggy smell.

See how flaky the fish looks inside.

Ingredients for fish sticks -around 15 - 20 sticks - ( I used 2 medium sized frozen Salmon fillets)
Fish - 1 pound (Cod,Flounder or any white fish)(boneless )
Vinegar- 1 tsp
Bread crumbs -as required
All purpose flour -3 tbsp for dusting +  1/2  cup for batter or ( 2 large egg whites lightly beaten)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method :
1.Wash and cut the fish fillets into 2 inch long strips and 1/2 inch wide using kitchen shears .Add vinegar, salt and pepper.Keep it  aside for a few minutes.Drain and dust it in 3 tbsp all purpose flour and spread it so that all the water dries up.
2. Mix all purpose flour with 1/4 cup water to make a slightly thick batter enough to coat the fish but not runny.sprinkle some salt and pepper in it.
3.Spray the wire rack with cooking oil or spray on an aluminium foil kept on baking  sheet.

4 Assemble everything in the order that is bread crumbs next to it then the  flour batter  and then fish.
5.Use both hands in this stage,take each flour coated strip and  dip in the batter then dredge in bread crumbs roll well  remember to shake off excess in each step and refrigerate for 20  minutes.

6.Preheat oven at 350 F and arrange the fish sticks on the wire rack leaving some distance in between.
Bake for 12-15 or until the fish flakes.Carefully turn once in between after the bottom is cooked for even coloring.
Serve hot with Tarter sauce. ( Recipe below)

Note:

• Uncooked coated fish sticks can be refrigerated for up to 1 day and frozen upto 3 months.So u can make well ahead of time.
• Do the dipping and dredging really fast as the fish would not  crisp up if it absorbs too much  moisture.
• Panko is larger bread crumbs and it gives a crispier effect.I have replaced half of the bread crumbs with panko.

Tartar sauce 

Mayonnise - 1 cup
lemon juice- 1 tbsp
Pickled cucumber- 1 chopped (fresh is fine)
Capers- 1 tbsp (I used  chopped spring onion)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything and refrigerate for any hour.Serve as a dip for fish fingers.

Wasn't that easy.Hope to hear from you lovely people out there.

Meena