Not your Everyday Fish & Chips

To some, Fish & Chips means a greasy fried chunk of cod served with even greasier french fries doused in malt vinegar and tarter sauce.

And I’m not here to say that there is anything wrong with that particular dish.

People love grease!  It’s a great hangover cure!  And sometimes eating greasy stuff just feels plain old fashioned, good, that is until you begin to digest it – that usually doesn’t feel too fantastic.

Digestion aside, I’m not here to hate on grease, or even to say that there’s anything wrong with that Fish & Chip special your local pub serves every Friday.

Long live greasy fish, fries, tarter sauce and malt vinegar!  All hail wet wipes!

But I invite you to try a different type of Fish & Chip special ala Sweetie and The Kitchen.

Grab a couple cans of tuna (yes canned tuna), some couscous (don’t question me, just go with it), a few red potatoes (no, they won’t be fried) and some Greek yogurt (I realize I’ve lost you here, but trust me, it’ll be OK) and some other stuff (see below) and get ready to make some serious deliciousness.

Garlic Couscous Tuna Cakes
Adapted from Can You Stay for Dinner?
served with
Baked Red Potato Chips with Yogurt Scallion Dip

So first, let’s get our Tuna Cakes ready… I realize this whole using canned tuna for anything but Tuna Fish Sandwiches is confusing but bear with me.

Garlic Tuna Couscous Cakes

serves 4

• 2, 6 oz cans tuna fish, drained and flaked
• 1 c. cooked couscous
• 1/4 c. green onions, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp each, salt and pepper
• juice of half a lemon
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with your hands.

Shape into 8 small patties.

Place on a greased baking sheet, brush the tops of each with olive oil, and bake for 20 minutes.

Now if you’re making the chips too, go ahead and get those ready and put in the oven at the same time as they should be cooked at the same temp for nearly the same amount of time.

So for those chips & dip…

Baked Red Potato Chips

• 4 large red potatoes or 6 small ones, thinly sliced with a mandolin if you have one
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp pepper
• 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Parmesan, finely grated

Yogurt Scallion Dip

• 1 c. Greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp scallions, chopped
• salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Combine spices, oil and potatoes and toss well to coat each potato slice.

Line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil and lay out slices individually, don’t just pile them on top of one another or they won’t cook evenly.

Sprinkle grated Parmesan over potatoes, using a microplane if you have one (and if you don’t have one, get one, and splurge on the real thing too, it’s totally worth it)

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until desired crispiness.

While chips bake, combine dip ingredients and mix well, refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.

When you take chips out of the oven, don’t be alarmed if they seem to be stuck to the foil, provided you used enough olive oil they’ll unstick.  Just let them cool for a few minutes and then tear those suckers off.

Serve with your chilled yogurt dip, and Voila, it’s just like those Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion Chips you used to covet as a child, just without all the calories and processed crap.

Now get your plates ready:

1. Tuna Cakes
2. Lemon Garnish
3. Handful of baked chips
4. Generous scoop of dip
5. Veggie of choice
6. Beverage

And dinner is served.

It may not be the Fish & Chips you need to curb that grease craving, but for Sweets and I it does the trick to satisfy our delicious dinner cravings.  I trust it’ll do the same at your house.