Whitebait
- Level: Easy
- Yield: serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 2 servings
- Calories
- 213
- Total Fat
- 10
- Saturated Fat
- 1
- Carbohydrates
- 26
- Dietary Fiber
- 2
- Sugar
- 0
- Protein
- 4
- Cholesterol
- 0
- Sodium
- 174
- Total: 10 min
- Prep: 5 min
- Cook: 5 min
Ingredients
Vegetable oil, for frying
18 ounces whitebait
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch fresh curly parsley
Maldon or other sea salt
Lemon wedges, for plating
Directions
- Heat the oil for frying in a deep-fat fryer to about 375 degrees F.
- Put the whitebait and the seasoned flour into a plastic bag, and toss everything around to coat the fish.
- Shake the excess flour by turning out the whole bag into a metal sieve, and then plunge the little fishes into the oil. Cook for about 3 minutes or until they look crispy and tempting - though I can see that for a squeamish generation, the idea of eating baby fish, whole, might not tempt. How wrong they are, if that's the case.
- Turn them out onto paper towels, and while the fish are losing any excess oil (we want desirable crunch) throw in a small handful of parsley leaves to deep-fry; watch out, it will spit. (A splatter guard is useful. Not charming, but useful.) When they have turned a very dark green, drain and serve with the whitebait, well sprinkled with sea salt and surrounded with lemon wedges.