Food has a way of bringing back fond memories of childhood holidays. For many of us, those memories include family time by the sea, especially along the British coastline. So, here, we’ve brought a few traditional seaside dishes up to date using seasonal coastal produce, helping you to relive those days, enjoying sandy picnics between rows of buckets and spades, or eating your favourite seaside snack on a windswept bench overlooking the sea.
Cook in the oven or air-fryer
Fish with salt & vinegar chips, pickle & dill mayo & minted crushed peas
For a quintessentially British seaside experience, you need to have fish and chips, but you don’t necessarily need a deep-fat fryer – use the oven or air-fryer.
SERVES 4 PREP 25 mins plus drying
COOK 45 mins EASY
45ml rapeseed oil, plus extra for the racks
1kg floury potatoes (such as Maris Piper)
400ml malt vinegar
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp olive oil
150g panko breadcrumbs
1 lemon, zested, then cut into wedges small handful of parsley, finely chopped
100g plain flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 x 200-250g boneless, skinless white fish loin fillets (such as haddock or cod)
For the dill mayo
8 cornichons, finely chopped, plus a splash of the pickling liquid
small handful of dill, finely chopped
300g mayonnaise
For the minted crushed peas
350g fresh or frozen peas (defrosted if frozen)
25g butter
1 lemon, zested and juiced
small handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
Heat the oven to 230C/210C fan/gas 8. Put a rack on the bottom shelf of the oven to heat up. Pour the rapeseed oil into a roasting tin and put on the middle shelf to heat up. Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into 1cm-thick slices, then into 1cm-thick chips. Tip the chips into a large saucepan, pour over the vinegar and season with 2 tsp fine sea salt. Top up with water until the chips are fully submerged. Set the pan over a high heat and bring to.
