I could almost feel my pores clogging with oil when I read the word fish fingers in this recipe.

Growing up, fish fingers were not one of the items that were ever found in the freezer, it wasn’t even an item that was ordered when we went out for breakfast.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been times when I crave for a few fried fish fingers to have with my fried egg for breakfast, those times require me to plan ahead and buy a box of fish fingers on the way home in the evening.

I also seem to be the only one in my family that has these cravings, when I offer them to my father he cringes and refuses to even look at them.

Since the passing of my uncle, I don’t have the motivation to want to stand in front of the stove and cook and my meal planning has just gone out the window.

When I came across this recipe in Nadiyah’s cookbook. It really got me excited and I could not wait to get up the following morning and actually cook something. Lets hope my cooking inspiration wakes up soon, I am tired of eating take outs.

For the first time in forever and as long as I can remember my father actually said he enjoyed this dish and when I reminded him that it had fish fingers in, he replied that he knew and the dish was still delicious.

All in all, the dish was liked all around and there are still some left overs left for a midnight snack.

Ingredients for the white sauce:

• 1l x full cream milk.
• 1 x tsp ginger garlic paste.
• 50g x cake flour.
• 1 x tsp English mustard powder.
• 1 x tsp salt
• 40g x butter.

Ingredients for the filling:

• 2 x tbsp. olive oil.
• 1 x onion, finely chopped.
• ½ x tsp salt.
• 2 x tbsp. fried tarragon.
• 500g x fish fingers, defrosted and cubed.
• 12 x lasagne sheets, cooked.
• 200g x cheddar cheese, grated.

Method for the sauce:

• In a sauce pan, melt the butter.
• Add the flour and whisk for a couple of minutes to allow the flour to cook.
• While whisking, slowly pour in the milk and whisk till the mixture starts to thicken.
• Whisk in the salt and garlic ginger paste.
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the mustard powder.
• Set aside for now.

Method for the filling:

• In a pot, heat the olive oil.
• Add the onion and salt, saute till the onions are soft.
• Add in the tarragon and mix.
• Add the cubed fish fingers and toss.
• Cook till the fish fingers start to brown.
• Remove from the stove and set aside.

To assemble:

• Spread some white sauce on the bottom of an oven proof dish.
• Lay a few lasagne sheets ontop of the cheese sauce, make sure nothing over laps.
• Spoon some of the fish finger mixture and evenly spread it out.
• Sprinkle over some cheese.
• Repeat the process again making sure that you end with a white sauce layer.
• Sprinkle a little more cheese over the white sauce, this is optional, but so worth it.
• Pop into a preheated oven and bake at 180 degrees for 30  minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly.