Fritto misto

Fritto misto

At the fishmongers:

Just buy a selection of small whole fish and fillets or steaks of the freshest fish on the counter. Include a bit of shellfish too. The more variety of fish that you are able to buy, the more interesting your fritto misto will be - but even if only two or three species are available, you will still enjoy the simplicity of this recipe. Allow about 300 - 400 grams of fish per person. If you are buying fillets, allow around 175 grams.  To save yourself a job, ask the fishmonger to scale and gut all of the fish, but leave the heads and tails on unless you would really prefer not to.

Per person:

a pinch of sea salt

300 - 400g mixed fish (see above)

250 ml milk

a couple of handfuls of good strong white flour

vegetable oil

2 lemons, cut into quarters

a couple of tablespoons of chopped parsley.

Method:

Sprinkle a little sea salt over the prepared fish, then dip the fish, one at a time, into the milk and then into the flour, shaking them to remove any excess flour.

Cover the base of a large, wide frying pan with about a centimetre of vegetable oil and heat to around 150 - 160°C, or until a cube of bread turns golden in 6 -7 seconds when thrown into the oil.  Fry each piece of fish until crisp and golden on each side. If you have any larger pieces of fish, remove them from the pan, place them on a roasting dish and finish the cooking in the oven, pre-heated to its maximum. But you will not need to do this if you select smaller fish.  Drain on kitchen paper before serving.

Lay the fish in a single layer on a white plate, sprinkle with parsley, add a squeeze of lemon juice and maybe a drizzle of good olive oil. Serve.