A Day At The Dock And A Fish Stick Recipe

Every so often the boys like to haul tons of stuff down to the dock and spend a few hours enjoying the slow pace of summer. They get Alyssa to help them take their fishing poles, their reading material, games, a ton of snacks and even the family room coffee table down with them. And to make it even a little more special, I bring them lunch on the dock. I could not resist making a batch of fish sticks for them while they hung out with their fishing poles on the dock. Luckily I had pre-purchased Alaskan pollack in case they did not catch anything.






So while the boys were busy on the dock, I started making their lunch. Homemade fish sticks are a favorite treat at our house. The kids love these super crunchy and mild fish sticks and I love that they are super easy to make. You need only a handful of common and cheap ingredients to get the best fish sticks of your life. I bought Alaska pollack because it is a very mild fish, but you can use any fish that you like. Also I bought a 4 ounce bag of pollack at my grocery store on sale for one dollar. This recipe uses 20 ounces total, but you can certainly adjust that amount to suit your needs.




So start by cutting your thawed fish into fingers. I lay them all out on the cutting board and then sprinkle them with salt, pepper and paprika to season the fish. Then just toss the fish fingers together a bit to evenly distribute the seasoning. If you look extra carefully in the picture below you can see the paprika floating down from heaven onto the fish. It is sort of like a 'Where's Waldo?' exercise. It's my favorite kind of exercise incidentally.






Then add your dredge ingredients to a bowl and mix with a whisk.





Simply toss the fish into the dredge mixture and drop into the heated oil. The fish sticks cook for five minutes and come out crunchy and perfect.





I sprinkle a little salt on the top while they are still hot.




Then, because there was a mega sale on melons at Wal-Mart I bought a few to make a cold, juicy tropical salad. I bought a pineapple and a super ripe mango to go into the salad as well.




I have a yellow watermelon, a Santa Clause, a Crenshaw, a cantaloupe, a pineapple and a mango.

Fish Sticks

Ingredients:

3 Cups Canola Oil
20 oz Alaska Pollock
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Pepper
Pinch of Paprika
1 Cup Corn Starch
1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

Directions:

1. Pour oil into a 2 quart saucepan. Heat oil over medium heat until the temperature reaches 350 degrees. This is the perfect frying temperature. You may need to adjust your stove a bit to keep the oil at the temperature you desire.

2. Cut the fish into fingers and sprinkle with a pinch of salt, pepper and paprika. Then toss fish fingers together to evenly distribute the seasoning.

3. Add last five ingredients to a bowl and mix with a whisk. This is your dredge mixture.

4. Drop a few fish fingers into the dredge mixture and coat. Tap off extra dredge coating and carefully put fish into the hot oil. The oil should bubble immediately. Cook fish for five minutes and then remove from oil. Put cooked fish onto a paper towel to drain. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

5. Cook remaining fish in small batches until all the fish is cooked. Enjoy immediately.

This makes recipe serves 4.

For a printer friendly version of this recipe click here.

I served the fish sticks with tropical fruit salad, steamed green beans, little yellow and red tomatoes, a little dipping cup of ranch dressing and ice cold iced tea.

I am linking this to Funny Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.