My friend Robert Irvine wondered what kind of sandwich would remind us of him? So- heading to the kitchen we came up with something that reminds us of Robert. Since he is a Brit, the first thing that came to mind was fish and chips - but putting it into a sandwich. Robert is a bit cheeky, and there is nothing better than good Alaskan Halibut for the fish- so halibut cheeks were the answer.

Brits, and Robert, love their beer - so a beer batter, but a bit less traditional than most. For this recipe we used an oatmeal stout.

Traditional tartar sauce might be a bit much, so instead we modified a cold slaw recipe to act as a texture and flavor element. This has less calories, and provides some healthy vegetables for the food.

We put this all together- and came up with the "Robert Irvine Sandwich" - like him, it is healthy, muscular, cheeky, British,

Beer-Batter Halibut Sandwich

Read through the recipe to see all the ingredients you will need (ok I'll list them below):

Something to fry with. I use a deep fat fryer- but you can also use a fry pan but you will need oil.  Don't worry- the amount of oil picked up from this dish is quite small. For the deep frier I use Peanut oil, but for the fry pan I use grape seed oil (Robert's favorite). I heat the oil to 375 degrees F - so you need a way to measure that.

A large bowl to put your slaw in (should hold a head of cabbage and more)

A whisk or two

List of ingredients for everything includes: 

1 head of cabbage - grated
2 carrots - grated
1 radicchio grated

1.5 cups of low-fat Mayo
1/3 cup of sugar
1 Tablespoon celery seeds
1 Tablespoon white vinegar

1 cup of a healthy oatmeal Stout (British of course) - buy a bottle or two, in case you need to - experiment
1 cup of all purpose flour
1 1/2 T of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon of Old Bay Seasoning

1 cup of corn starch to dredge the halibut in (or you can use flour)

Halibut cheeks (or fillets) - there is enough batter to make 6 sandwiches and enough slaw for 10 or more

A great French roll

Parmesan cheese - grated to top each bit of halibut with (see the video).

First the Cold Slaw:

This is a version of an Eastern Northern Carolina Cold Slaw that is used with pulled pork. We modified it a bit to go with halibut and to take the flavor and texture that tartar sauce provides, but with a healthier spin.

1 head of cabbage - grated
2 carrots - grated
1 radicchio grated
Mix the vegetables together.

The dressing
1.5 cups of low-fat Mayo
1/3 cup of sugar
1 Tablespoon celery seeds
1 Tablespoon white vinegar

-mix together- and then add salt and pepper to taste. Mix with the vegetables and then put in the refrigerator.
Health Note: Some have used low-fat yogurt or yogurt instead of Mayo, but you lose the mouth feel of the slaw. Low-fat mayo works better, saving over 700 calories!

Beer Batter

1 cup of a healthy oatmeal Stout (British of course)
1 cup of all purpose flour
1 1/2 T of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon of Old Bay Seasoning

This presents a thick batter, which is my preference for using in a deep-fat fryer. If you are going to fry this in a fry pan then you will need to thin the batter by using more beer.

Halibut Cheeks

You can also use the fillet of halibut, or even cod for this. I like the cheeks because they are meaty like Robert

If you use a fillet, remove the skin from the halibut or cod.
Rinse and pat them dry.

Dredge them in flour or corn starch.

Apply the batter. If you use thicker, like I prefer, you can almost coat them like frosting, on three of the four sides. The side you put into the basket you leave "naked." If you use a frying pan and use a thinner batter then you coat them on all sides.

Deep Fat Fryer to 375 degrees F. I use Peanut oil in the frier. If I use a fry pan then I use grape seed oil (Robert's favorite).  Carefully place them in.

Remove in 2-3 minutes when they are golden crisp and let them sit in the basket and drain the oil.

Assemble:

use a great bread - I like a fine French roll.

Slaw, Halibut, parmesan cheese, and more slaw.

Eat -- its a mouthful -- ummm (ok, I won't say it but you know what I would say)