I told you about the wonder and majesty that is quick pickled cabbage; I wanted to give you all a recipe that would really help show off how good it is. This one is a winner. It has all the appeal of a hotdog crossed with fish and chips, with a tangy dilly aioli and fresh greens, and of course the pickled cabbage. Plus, optional but recommended, fried jalapenos to top everything off. These would be fantastic for a summertime backyard party.

Don’t get overwhelmed by the deep frying element of this recipe. I used to be super intimidated to deep fry anything, but this is actually pretty quick and simple. You don’t need any special equipment, just a large, heavy pot and a thermometer (in a pinch you can do it without a thermometer). If there is a recipe that’s worth pushing past deep frying anxiety, I think this is it.

crispy beer battered fish (and jalapenos!)

1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus a bit more for dredging
½ cup cornstarch
2 tsp baking powder
1 can of your favorite beer
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 pound halibut, cod or other flaky white fish
⅓ cup pickled jalapenos, drained and patted dry with paper towel
3-4 cups neutral oil for frying

Pat fish dry with a paper towel and remove any bones. Cut the fish into hotdog-sized batons.

Heat oven to 250° and place a cookie sheet with a cooling tray on it into the oven. Heat oil in a large, heavy pot to 350°. If you don’t have a thermometer, heat the oil until a little batter dropped in sizzles and bubbles vigorously.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir in beer and mix until evenly combined. Working one piece at a time, dredge fish in flour and then dip into batter. Make sure to coat the fish all over. Carefully place battered fish into hot oil. Fry until deep golden brown, turning fish over after two or three minutes when the bottom is dark enough.

Place cooked fish on the rack in the oven while you continue cooking the rest. Dip jalapenos in batter and fry for couple minutes. Drain on the rack with the fish.

dill aioli

1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup fresh dill, roughly chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
2 tbs lemon juice

Stir all ingredients together.

assembly

All of the above plus:

pickled cabbage, drained of as much pickling liquid as possible
pea shoots or other crisp greens
more tiny dill fronds
hot dog buns

Slather a soft hot-dog bun with dill mayo, and add pea shoots and pickled cabbage. Top with a piece of crispy fish, some dill and a few jalapenos if you like.

I think alliterative food tastes better. When I was thinking about making this, I saw lots of lobster and fennel pies and mushroom lobster pies, lobster pie with peas and carrots, but the sounds of leek and lobster has a pleasing quality. Sleeker, smoother, just better. Plus, I thought it would be tasty. Pot pie is a great way to use intimidatingly expensive lobster because you only need a little bit. I used one lobster for two people, which makes the price of the lobster almost reasonable. This pie has all the warming, cozy casualness of a chicken pot pie, but with a hint of lobstronomous fanciness. You can also substitute whatever kind of seafood you like, salmon, shrimp or crab would work well too. Just make sure to choose an alliterative vegetable to go with your choice of seafood. Crab and cucumber anyone?

Also, did you know sometimes lobsters are blue? Incredibly, brilliantly blue. I think they might be the bluest things in nature. It's pretty great.

I am so impressed with this rough puff pastry. It was incredibly fast and it is really, really close to puff pastry made the traditional (much more laborious) way. You can sub in regular puff pastry here if you want to-it's really fun to make and not very difficult, but it is time consuming. Or you can use store bought puff pastry, it will be great.

rough puff pastry

from Bake!: Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking by way of Martha Stewart

1 1/4 cups cold butter
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
a big pinch of salt
2/3 cup cold water

Chop one cup of butter into small cubes. Put them in the freezer.

In a food processor, combine 1/4 cup butter, 2 cups flour and salt. Pulse until combined evenly.

Add cold butter cubes and pulse twice very quickly. The butter will be in large chunks and not incorporated. Add about half the water and pulse very quickly again. Add more water if the mixture is still very dry. The dough will not come together or form a ball.

Dump the contents of the food processor onto a clean work surface and roughly squish together. Roll dough out into a rectangle, dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking. It will be crumbly and uncooperative at first, don't worry. Fold the short edges of the rectangle into the centre so they overlap. Roll out again into a rectangle and repeat this folding (check out this helpful video to see how). Wrap the dough tightly in cling wrap and chill.

filling

cooked meat from one lobster, or about 1 cup lobster meat chopped (frozen is fine)
3 sliced leeks, dark green leaves removed
5 cloves garlic, minced
one shallot
2 small yellow potatoes, cubed
1 cup white wine
1 cup cream
2 cups lobster or other seafood stock

In a frying pan over medium heat, sauté leeks, shallot and garlic until wilted and slightly translucent. Remove vegetables and set aside. Add wine, cream, stock and potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Add a little water as the potatoes cook if the liquid reduces too much. When potatoes are tender, combine with leeks and lobster meat.

assembly

Note: I used a small (8") oval pan for this, you can use a small round or square pan, or two ramekins. This recipe serves two generously, but easily doubles or triples for a crowd.

Heat oven to 425F.

Divide pastry in half. Wrap the remainder and chill or freeze for another use. Roll out pasty into a rectangle about 1cm thick. Trace the pie dish into the pastry with a paring knife and cut pastry to fit just inside the edge of the pan. Cut vents in the lid.

Fill pan with the lobster mixture. Lay pastry lid over the mixture, pressing in gently. Brush with a little cream or beaten egg. Bake until the pastry is deeply golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Serve with a salad of lettuce and lotus root.

Photos: Tyrel Hiebert