Whole Roasted Plaice with Sage, Garlic & Lemon Butter Sauce
Simple recipe that makes whole fish cookery really easy and delicious.
Serves 2
To make this recipe you will need:
- 500g potatoes, cut into wedges
- Olive oil to drizzle
- Cornish sea salt flakes
- 2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, ½ juiced and ½ cut into wedges to serve
- 75g butter, plus an extra knob for frying
- 3 fresh sage sprigs, leaves finely chopped, a few reserved whole
- 5 whole garlic cloves
- 1 whole plaice
And here’s how to do it…
1. Heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Put the garlic cloves with a sprinkle of sea salt, black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil in a small roasting tin and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes until soft.
3. Toss the potatoes in a large roasting tin with a good drizzle of oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Nestle the lemon slices among the potatoes, then roast for 40 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden and crisp.
4. Meanwhile, melt the 75g butter in a sauté pan over a low-medium heat and fry the whole sage leaves until crisp, then drain on kitchen paper and set aside.
5. Gently heat the butter in the pan until it begins to brown and smell nutty (don’t let it burn). Add a little lemon juice (be careful as it may spit), then stir in the roasted garlic and chopped sage. Cook for another minute or so until the sage turns crisp, then transfer to a bowl and keep warm. Don’t wash the pan.
6. Once the potatoes are crisp, lay the whole plaice on top and drizzle with a tablespoon of the sage & garlic butter. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the fish is just cooked. When you insert a small knife, the delicate flesh should be opaque and flaky.
7. Once the plaice is cooked scatter with the fried sage leaves and drizzle with the remaining sage & garlic butter. Serve with lemon wedges.
Serve with wilted spinach, kale or seasonal greens or alternatively alongside a fresh crisp salad.
