Yesterday the weather was glorious. My car thermometer actually registered 18.5°C. People were walking round with their coats over their shoulders, windows were open and washing on lines was drying, not just hanging forlornly.
I understand that by the time you read this post the weather may have gone downhill, but no one can deny that spring is in the air. The crocuses and daffs are out, the birds are singing and the nights are drawing out. To celebrate this I decided to make something spring like for dinner last night. This lemon sole with brown shrimp and capers was perfect for the occasion.
Quick and easy to make, you will have this dish on the table in minutes. The trick is to get everything ready before you start cooking the fish. I like to serve this with bread and butter or, even better, boiled new potatoes so get those cooking. Next, prepare the salad and all the sauce ingredients so that everything is ready to go.
Once the potatoes are cooked it’s time to cook the fish. There are a few simple tricks that enable you to shallow fry fish really well. If you are using butter then make sure that you add a little oil in with the butter to prevent it from burning, and make sure that the pan is good and hot before you put the fish in or it will soak up lots of oil causing it to taste greasy. It is also important not to move the fish round once it’s in the pan. Moving it round causes it to break up. Leaving it alone gives it the chance to develop a lovely crispy skin which helps hold the fish together, looks great and tastes delicious.
Now it’s simply a matter of dredging the fish fillets in a little flour, frying them for a couple of minutes on each side then removing them to a plate to keep warm. You then add the remaining ingredients to the pan, warm through and serve.
Simple, easy and oh so good.
Lemon Sole with Brown Shrimp and Caper Butter
Ingredients
For the potatoes
- 700 g new potatoes
For the fish
- 4 x140g lemon sole filets ((5oz))
- 25 g plain white flour
- 30 g butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the sauce
- 70 g butter
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons capers (drained)
- 70 g brown shrimp
- Black pepper to taste
To serve
- 4 handfuls fresh crispy, salad leaves
Instructions
For the potatoes
- Cook the potatoes for 15-20 minutes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain. While the potatoes are cooking prepare the sauce ingredients.
For the fish
- Dry each fish fillet with kitchen towel. Dust each fillet very lightly on both sides with flour. I use a fine holed flour dredger for this.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, put a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat and add the butter and olive oil.
- Once the fat is really hot (this will take a minute or two) place the fillets into the pan, skin side down. Gently press each fillet down for a few seconds if they rise away from the heat, then leave to cook.
- When the edge of the skin starts to lift away from the pan and looks golden brown (2-3 minutes), slide a spatula under the fish and flip it over gently. Cook the fish for a further 1-2 minutes until it flakes easily.
- Leaving the heat on, remove the fish to a plate and cover with foil.
For the sauce
- Return the pan to the heat, add the sauce ingredients to the pan and heat though.
To assemble
- Place one fillet of fish, the potatoes and the crispy salad leaves on each plate. Spoon the majority of the sauce over the fish leaving a little for the salad leaves.
- Serve.
Nutrition
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