Food ‘n Drink

I cooked this dish last week and have to say I’ve never tried roasting fish before but it was a nice change to the usual grill or pan fry methods.

Need:
1 fillet of Plaice per person
Half a garlic clove per fillet
Spring Onion
Cherry Tomatoes
Fine Beans
Basil Leaves
Olive Oil
Dry White Wine
Fresh Baguette
Fresh lemon

Wash the plaice and score the skin side 2-3 times diagonally. Place the fillets in a roasting dish. Slice the garlic and sprinkle over the Plaice. Roughly chop the basil and sprinkle over the fish too. Then add the spring onions, chopped, and cherry tomatoes. Add 5 tablespoons of olive oil, and cook in an oven at 180 deg C for 15 minutes. During this time blanche any veg you may wish to add, fine beans and asparagus are good choices. After 15 minutes add the blanched veg and 5 table spoons of the dryest white wine you have (the sweet it is the more you’ll taste it, so this is purely a matter of personal taste, however a dry white wine will usually produce a better result). Roast for a further 10 minutes.

Serve with a wedge of lemon and freshly cut baguette and don’t forget to finish off the opened bottle of wine!

I found that the basil gave the fish such an amazing taste. The basil wasn’t too overpowering at all and really complimented the fish well. Of course this dish can be done with any flat fish such as Lemon Sole.

Diet variations:
Atkins - use the absolute dryest wine possible as this will contain less carbohydrates. Also you may wish to go for something other than tomatoes as these can be quiet sweet and higher in sugar. Red pepper is a good alternative. Of course, omit the baguette.

GI Plan - Similar to the Atkins diet, dryest wine and omit the baguette. Add more veg to it to compensate for the lack of bread.