Crumbed Fish Sandwich w/ Smoky Mayo

Fish sambos are a guaranteed good time! We’ve jazzed the classic fish sandwich up with homemade pickled onions and zesty zucchini ribbons. If you’re short on time, use store-bought pickles and omit the zucchini. Perfect for lunch or an easy dinner. They’re best served while your fish is still warm, and we like ours accompanied with home-cut wedges or fries.
Makes 4 sandwiches.

Use: any fish you like. We find flatter fillets like Moki, Tarakihi, Lemon Sole, Ling or Elephant preferable.

INGREDIENTS

Flaky Sea Salt
Freshly Cracked Pepper

For the Pickled Onions

½ Red Onion, sliced
½ cup White Vinegar
1 cup Water
3 tsp Sugar
1 Bay Leaf

For the Zesty Zucchini

1 large or 2 small Zucchini
Lemon, juice of
¼ cup Olive Oil

For the Fish

400g fish (I used Moki)
1 cup Breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
2 Eggs, beaten
½ cup Flour (plain)
Lemon for squeezing

For the Smoky Mayo

6 Tbsp Mayonnaise
2 tsp Chipotle Sauce (or Sriracha)

To Assemble

8 slices fresh sandwich Bread
1 Lemon
1 Avocado
2 large Tomatoes
Iceberg Lettuce, ½ head

METHOD

Place all of your pickled onion ingredients, except for the onion, in a pot and bring to the boil. Once boiling, remove from the heat and pour over the onions. Allow the onions to stand in the pickle mix for at least 1 hour – the longer the better.
For the zucchini ribbons. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the zucchini into long thin ribbons. Place the ribbons in a bowl and add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to marinate for at least 1 hour.
Line a baking tray and pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, fan bake.
Bring your fish to room temperature. Portion the fish into 4 similar-sized pieces (this will ensure even cooking time). Season the flour with salt and pepper. Place the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs into 3 separate bowls. Dip the fish pieces into the flour, cover well with the egg mix and lastly roll in breadcrumbs to coat the fish all over. Remember to use one hand for the wet ingredients and the other for the dry (this will stop your crumb getting lumpy). Transfer your fish pieces onto the lined baking tray as you go.
Drizzle the fish with olive oil and then pop into the pre-heated oven. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fish (my chunky Moki pieces took 12 minutes). Turn the fish halfway through cooking. Remove from the oven when golden brown and a broken apart piece of fish has moist white flesh.
While the fish is cooking. Mix the mayo and chipotle sauce in a bowl and set aside (sub Chipotle for Sriracha if you like). Slice the tomatoes, slice the avocado, and shred the lettuce.
When the fish is out of the oven, squeeze with lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
To assemble your sambos. Spread a slice of bread with a generous amount of mayo. Top the mayo with lettuce, sliced tomatoes, crumbed fish, avocado, pickled onions and zesty zucchini ribbons. Spread some more mayo on another piece of bread, and top your sandwich with it. Repeat x 3. Serve and enjoy!