Beer Battered Fish and Onion Rings with Low-Fat Tartar Sauce

My son pronounced this my "best dinner ever." I think it's because I put Red Robin seasoning on the fries and onion rings, LOL (I baked up some fries too, but they weren't on my plate, hence, not in the photo). And yes, I made a vegetable, too, but it was just broccoli, so I didn't put it in the picture.

I was going to make baked fish. Then realized I had all the ingredients for beer batter, and a hankering for some fried food. So I made this, and made the low-fat tartar sauce to kinda offset the calories (it's the Big Mac and Diet Coke theory ;-).

Beer Battered Fish

1 pound of cod or other whitefish
1 12-ounce bottle of beer
2 cups of flour, divided

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
more salt and pepper

Canola oil

Heat about an inch of the oil in a thick bottomed pan to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Also preheat the oven to 200 degrees and put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Cut the cod into two-inch pieces. Mix the beer and 1 1/2 cups of flour in a bowl. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup flour with some salt and pepper to season it.

Dredge the fish in the beer batter, then shake gently to remove the big bits of batter. Dredge in the flour. Fry, a few pieces at a time, about 4 minutes per side, turning once. Remove and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt while it's still hot. While other pieces are cooking, put the first pieces on the cookie sheet and into the oven, to keep them warm.

When the cod is done, if you happen to have a sweet white onion (like a Vidalia), cut into 1/2 inch rings, dredge in the batter (skip the flour), then fry, about 3 minutes per side. You might need to add more oil and reheat the oil to 375 before cooking the onions. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

For the low-fat Tartar Sauce, mix 1 small container plain yogurt with 3 tablespoons relish (I used my zucchini relish :-), a dash of hot sauce, a little lemon juice, and a tablespoon or so of lite mayonnaise to thicken it.

Shirley