Cook Whitebait From Frozen Recipes

DEVILLED WHITEBAIT WITH ROASTED GARLIC MAYO

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. To make the mayo, put the garlic cloves onto a piece of foil, drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and wrap up tightly. Cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes until soft. Cool, then squeeze the cloves out of their skins and put in a bowl with the mayonnaise, lemon juice and some seasoning, and mix well.
• Put the cornflour, rice flour, mustard powder, paprika and cayenne into a bowl and mix well. Add the whitebait and toss really well, until covered in the spiced flour.
• Fill a pan no more that 1 /3 full with oil and heat to 180C or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Fry the whitebait, in batches, for 4-5 minutes or until really crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in a low oven while you fry the rest. Serve straightaway with the roasted garlic mayo for dipping, a sprinkle of sea salt and lemon wedges for squeezing over.

WHITEBAIT

Steps:

• 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.