Chips. And fish. Screw the fish.

Northeast veering southeast, 5 to 7.

Mainly moderate.

Occasional rain.

Moderate or good, occasionally poor later.

I don’t eat chips very often, but there will be the day when only chips will do. No matter the weather, no matter what you have planned, there will be the chips craving.

Problem is: The commercial ones are awful and the best to make at home are a bit time consuming. Not work consuming, but time. Sorry, but Heston Blumenthal`s triple cooked chips are unbeatable. The word triple is a give away to the time involved.

However, there is a silver lining. You can make them up to stage two and freeze them. While Heston suggests that they keep in the freezer for 3 days, I had them for two weeks and they were still brilliant. But don’t feel tempted to keep them much longer.

Will be a nice addition to my two small lemon soles. Yes, two seems a bit too much but one was clearly not enough while two were stretching it. A bit like children.

I prepared the chips up to stage two yesterday when I salted the cod. And made the dinner. Its called multitasking. And it is really not a lot of work.

Heston Blumenthal`s triple cooked chips

3  potatoes, size of a kiwi (I used  the rest of the Corolle potatoes from earlier this week), peeled and cut into 4

Groundnut or grapeseed oil (I actually used the oil from the olive oil poaching earlier this week)

Sea salt

Place the cut chips into a bowl with water for 10 minutes to wash the starch off. After 5 minutes change the water.

Place 1 litre of UNSALTED tap water in a large saucepan and add the potatoes. Place the pan over a medium heat and simmer until the chips are done (approximately 20-30 minutes, depending on the potato).

Carefully remove the cooked chips and place them on a cooling rack to dry out. Then place in the freezer for at least 1 hour to remove more moisture.

Heat a deep-fat fryer or a deep pan no more than half filled with oil (to a depth of around 5cm) to 130°C. Fry the chips until a light crust forms (approximately 5 minutes), remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.

Put the potatoes on a cooling rack and place in the freezer for at least 1 hour. (At this stage, if you don't want to cook and serve immediately, the chips can be kept in the freezer for several days.)

Heat the oil in the deep-fat fryer or deep pan to 180°C and fry the chips until golden (approximately 7 minutes). Drain and sprinkle with sea salt.

Lemon sole

If you are squeamish about having a fish with bones on your plate, fillet it this way

If you don’t mind, just cut the head, tail and fins off and do the filleting on the plate.

Wash and pat dry (skin stays on), salt and sprinkle with a bit of flour.

Heat oil plus the same amount of butter in a pan and set to medium. Once the butter starts slightly foaming, put the sole(s) into the pan.  Reduce heat. Fry one side for maybe two minutes, then turn over. While the other side cooks, baste the top constantly with the butter/oil mixture. Keep an eye on your chips which should be by now in their oil. Flip again and baste for 2 minutes; flip again and baste. So we are talking around 8-10 minutes here (depending on the size), and since the chips need around 7 minutes, you put them in during the first fish fry. Once you come to the last turn, you can either add drained salted capers and parsley into the butter, or don’t bother. However the juice of half a lemon is a must.

Serve with the chips, peas or a salad and maybe a homemade mayonnaise or just spoon some of the butter over.

Verdict:

I wanted the chips to be the star of the show, but they ended up being a (strong) supportive act. They looked too little and while they were actually enough, I just wished I had more. Dont get me wrong: With the fish and peas I was more than enough satiated but somehow my chips craving was not completely satisfied. Maybe 4 next time? Or 5 and drop the pretence that I cook a balanced meal and just give in a chips craving? After all its not that often? Forget about the fish?

The lemon sole was soft, tender and juicy. But I think this has something to do with their freshness. If you screw up really fresh fish, you are doing something seriously wrong.