Kids in the kitchen: Meal where everyone can chip in

Our family doesn’t eat a lot of fast food normally, but when we’re on the road, eating “fast” street food is one of our favorite pastimes. Think gyros stuffed with spicy lamb, fragrant tamales, crepes dripping with butter and lemon, and in merry old England, battered fish and chips.

Sometimes it’s almost impossible to re-create street food at home, but when it comes to fish and chips, making crunchy-coated fish fingers in a frying pan or in the oven is a great-tasting and safer alternative to deep-frying battered fish. Just use a good quality, firm, fresh white fish, such as cod.

Children can help with coating the fish pieces with the breadcrumbs and help supervise their cooking in the frying pan. They can also mix up some homemade tartar sauce or lemon mayonnaise to accompany the fish.

The homemade, thickly-cut “chips” – what we call French fries – are delicious with ketchup, of course. But if you want to try them the traditional English way, sprinkle on some malt vinegar and salt just before eating. If you want to go all the way with authenticity, overcook some peas and mush them slightly with a spoon as an accompaniment.

Homemade Fish and Chips

Serves 4

4 medium to large potatoes

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the potatoes well or peel them. Slice potatoes the long way in half, then again the long way into quarters, and again, if they are large, into eighths. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and toss well with olive oil, salt and pepper. The potatoes should be lightly coated with oil but not swimming in it. Place in the preheated oven and bake, removing the pan to turn the chips over with your spatula several times until they are brown and crisp on the outside, approximately 30 to 45 minutes. While the potatoes are baking, cook the fish:

1/2 cup fine bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon ground lemon pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 pound cod fillets (or similar), cut into 1 to 2 inch wide chunks

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

In a wide, shallow bowl or pie plate, combine the bread crumbs, lemon pepper, and salt. Mix well.

In another bowl, gently dip the fish pieces in the egg white. Dredge each fish piece in the bread crumb mixture, turning and pressing gently to help the crumbs stick to the fish. Set each piece aside on a plate.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add fish to skillet in batches if there isn’t room for them all to fit easily at once. Cook, turning once, until browned, and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, no more than 10 minutes. Don’t overcook.

Alternatively, bake the fish pieces on a greased, nonstick baking sheet in the oven with the potatoes, about 10 minutes. When fish and chips are done, serve immediately, accompanied by tartar sauce or lemon mayonnaise, lemon wedges, malt vinegar, salt and ketchup.

Homemade tartar sauce: In a small bowl mix a spoonful of mayonnaise with a spoonful of pickle relish, either sweet or dill relish.

Lemon mayonnaise: In a small bowl, add bottled lemon juice slowly to a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise, whisking with a fork or small whisk until the mixture is the consistency of heavy cream.