Home-made fish fingers

Home-made fish fingers have more fish, more flavour and more crunch than shop bought ones and are well worth the extra effort. Most children love them so they're a safe bet when they have a few pals over after school. I always make up some extra and freeze them. They make a brilliant midweek emergency supper, frying them in batches from frozen.

Serve them with crispy homemade oven chips, or between two slices of bread with loads of tartare sauce for the ultimate fish finger sandwich. I have lemon sole here but any white fish like cod or haddock would do just as well. Sustainable white fish, such as pollock or coley would be even better. Panko breadcrumbs give the nicest coating, but I nearly always have breadcrumbs in the freezer so that's normally what I use - either is a vast improvement on the bright orange coating of the boxed fish finger - sorry Captain Birdseye, no offense intended.

Ingredients
2 lemon sole fillets (skinned)
70 g cornflour
100 g white breadcrumbs (or panko)
2 eggs
250 ml groundnut oil (or grapeseed - or as needed depending on size of pan)
Salt & pepper (to taste)

Method
Cut the fish into strips down the fillet, following the natural lines of the fish. The strips should be approximately 1in wide and 3-4in long. Sprinkle some salt onto the fish.
Put the cornflour into a shallow bowl and season with salt and pepper. Put the breadcrumbs or panko into another shallow bowl, and beat the eggs in an additional bowl.
Dip each finger into the seasoned cornflour, coating it well, then the beaten egg, and finally the breadcrumbs.
Lay the coated fish on a cooling rack for a while, and heat the oil in a pan. (Or at this point you can freeze them in layers of baking parchment in an airtight container.)
Fry the fish fingers for about 2 minutes, or until crisp and golden. Remove to pieces of kitchen paper as you go, to get rid of excess oil.