LemonGold Whitebait with Aioli
Whitebait are juvenile members of the herring family that can be eaten whole. Traditionally prepared by dusting in seasoned flour before being deep-fried, wihitebait essentially become a happy medium between fish and chips. Best served directly from pot to plate, whitebait is made even more delicious with the addition of a different take on tartare sauce - roasted LemonGold™ aioli
Recipe developed by @eastafternoon
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
INGREDIENTS:
- 900 g pre-frozen whitebait, defrosted
- 100 g plain flour
- sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- 50 ml good quality mayonnaise (or make your own)
- 3 LemonGold™ lemons
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 15 ml olive oil
- fine sea sal and black pepper
- coarse ground sea salt and black pepper
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 200°C
- Slice one LemonGold™ lemon and the garlic bulb in half, drizzle with olive oil and season with coarse salt and pepper.
- Roast the LemonGold™ lemon and garlic in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until caramelized adn soft. Leave to cool before spooning out the middle fruit and finely chopping the peel of the LemonGold™ lemon and squeezing the garlic cloves from their papery skins and roughly chopping.
- Stir the chopped peel and garlic through the mayonnaise and season with a grind of coarse salt and pepper to taste.
- Fill a pot with about 4cm of oil and heat to 200°C.
- Rinse off the whitebait and pat dry with kitchen towel.
- Combine the flour and a shake of fine black pepper in dish and drop in the whitebait. Shake the dish to evenly coat each fish in flour then deep-fry the whitebait in batches, draining the fried fish on kitchen towel.
- Season with salt and serve the whitebait immediately with the LemonGold™ mayonnaise and extra LemonGold™ lemon wedges for squeezing over the fish.