…so last week, a dilemma was presented to me- what to make for the superbowl and keep it as local as possible? I took an inventory of what we already had in the house- potatoes, frozen strawberries, flour, cornstarch, beer…and what we could get that was local. For the big game, I ended up coming up with a take on fish and chips- cod brandande with some homemade fries and for dessert, a strawberry tart…I did let the rules slip a little though and instead of wiping out our canola supply, I bought some peanut oil at the store. We received a new fryer for Christmas and thought that this would be the perfect time to use it. First off, the fries- I used the trusty mandoline to cut them into shape and rinsed them in cold water multiple times to wash away any residual starch. After drying them on paper towels, they were blanched in the hot oil for 5-6 minutes and left to cool and drain again on some more paper towels. To finish, they were fried for 2-3 minutes more in a higher temperature oil which made them a nice golden brown. Next up the cod- it was poached in milk for 5-7 minutes, drained and mashed with a fork. The cooked potatoes were folded in along with some garlic confit, paprika, olive oil and white pepper. The mixture was formed into balls and coated in the beer batter and fried for 5-6 minutes until golden brown. I ended up scraping the mayonnaise jar and adding some capers for a “sauce”. For the finale, the tart was a homemade tart shell filled with a pastry cream and topped with local strawberries that Ingrid had picked this past summer…which was perfect- not super sweet and a good way to watch the Saints complete their victory. -Josh
