Friday Fish Fry - egg & milk battered flounder

Today is a Fish day! We have the best fish & chips at our local  Irish pub but we also like our traditional recipe for egg & milk battered fish and I am making it quiet often. This is a Ukrainian style recipe which I got from my Aunt a long time ago. She was a great cook, I just wished I would have written down more of her wonderful recipes.

Try it, I think, you will like it, too!

 

You will need:

2lbs of flounder (cod, pollock or any other mild white fish)  

2 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 cup all purpose flour

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup of olive oil for frying

 Defrost your flounder fillets and squeeze out the excess of liquid. Cut fish to the portion size pieces.

Prepare your batter: whisk eggs and milk in the bowl, add flour, salt and pepper. Blend it together until smooth. 

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with about 1 cup of olive oil. Dip your fish pieces in the batter and fry on each side until deep golden brown and cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.   

Serve with mashed potato and green cabbage salad. 

To make it Ukrainian style combine together shredded green cabbage, cucumber, green onion, salt, lemon juice and sunflower oil.

  Enjoy your Friday dinner!

Apple and tomato relish

Canning fruits and vegetables is very common in Ukraine. People often living in small city apartments but pretty often they have a little summer house outside of the city with the little garden. Gardening for many becomes a great way to relieve stress of daily routine and of course, this is an opportunity to make some food preserves for winter. Many using their  family recipes which are often kept as a secret and being passed from generation to generation. Many however are sharing their recipes with others.

This one I got from my mother many years ago. This type of relish is often served as a side dish, with cooked meat or like a snack between meals. It can also be canned.

You will need:

1lbs tomatoes

2 medium carrots

2 medium bell peppers

2 apples

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 chili pepper

3/4 cup of olive oil

Salt and pepper

Thoroughly wash the fruits and vegetables. Remove the steam and seeds from the peppers, core and stem from the apples. Peel the garlic and carrots. Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for several seconds, remove them and peel off the skin.

 Roughly chop all vegetables except the garlic. Add the chopped vegetables to a blender or large vegetable chopper and mince until almost a paste but you can still see a pieces in it. Transfer all the ingredients except the garlic into a large pot and bring it to a boil. 

Reduce heat and cook on a low setting for about 2 hours, stirring as needed. Mince garlic and add it to your pot. Bring to boil, add salt and pepper to taste, stir and reduce the heat to medium and let it cook for additional 15 minutes.

Let it cool and serve it chilled with fresh baked bread.

Enjoy!