Food

Move over chicken Kiev: a tasty new take on a retro classic

Kitchen Cabinet: Niall Sabongi's has updated the retro chicken Kiev for a summery day

Fish-tail Kiev, as served by Niall Sabongi.

Niall Sabongi
Tue Jul 14 2020 - 07:00

I used to love the treat of having a chicken Kiev as a child and even remember my Dad having chicken Kiev on his menu in his restaurant, so all and all they used to be a fancy affair. Now they are a bit old hat and perhaps a bit retro.

When reading a recipe book recently it brought back these fond food memories and I decided to try it out at home but using fish rather than chicken.

I tried out the dish on my two boys at home. They loved it and it has now become a firm favourite in the house. It comes oozing with garlic butter and served with creamy mash and tossed salad.

It is perfect for a cold evening, but also lovely on a sunny day with nice glass of wine in the garden.

READ MORE

Niall Sabongi is a chef and owner of the Seafood Café, Klaw and Sustainable Seafood Ireland

FISH-TAIL KIEV

Serves four

Ingredients
4 haddock tails, or cod, or whiting, or any fish really as suits them all. (Have your fish monger cut you just the tail section below the rib cage, this way you will only have one long centre bone to remove. You can also ask them to butterfly the tail to remove the bone for you. Ask for the fish to be scaled).
150g plain flour
4 eggs lightly whisked
180g panko breadcrumbs
2 litre veg oil for cooking
Mayo spiked with lemon juice
Lemon halves

For the garlic butter
60g softened butter
Handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
4 garlic cloves, smashed with salt
1 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Method
1 For the butter, combine all the ingredients, roll in some foil or parchment and freeze it, so you can cut into long barrels.

2 Fill the cavity of the fish, where the bone was, with the garlic butter and fold over, secure with two wooden toothpicks.

3 Season the outside of the fish, then lightly flour it, roll in the egg and then add in the breadcrumbs. You can repeat the egg and breadcrumbs to get a better covering if you like.

4 Chill the fish for 15 minutes.

5 Heat the oil in large pan to about 180 degrees. Fry the fish one at a time for about three minutes, or until browned and cooked through, and drain on some kitchen paper. Remove toothpicks before serving.

6 Serve with creamy mash or chips and big crisp salad. Personally I love a big dollop of home-made lemon mayo on the side of this dish.

Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland, who have come together during the coronavirus outbreak to share some of the easy, tasty things that they like to cook and eat at home #ChefsAtHome

Niall Sabongi