This pan-fried plaice recipe with basil and tomato is the perfect dish to cook for an easy evening supper. Light and full of flavour make it a healthy option.

About Plaice

Plaice has a fine, moist texture, bright white colour and a subtle but distinctive sweet flavour. Plaice is one of the most popular flat fish in the UK and also around Europe. From above it has a distinctive brown skin with bright orange spots, the underside is white. On our counter you will see that we sell the white and dark plaice fillets separately. Alternatively you can by a whole fish and we can fillet it for you. There is quite a variety in size so you may find that one fillet is enough for two.

Preparation time for this recipe will be about 10-12 minutes allow a further 8 minutes for  cooking time. Quantities below are for two people. This recipe will also work well with other flatfish.

Ingredients For Plaice With Basil And Tomato

2 x 170g plaice fillets
300g new potatoes, scrubbed and halved
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 plum tomatoes
1 tsp small capers, rinsed
Zest and juice 1 lemon
Small handful fresh basil leaves, torn
25g butter

Cooking Method For Pan Fried Plaice

Cook the potatoes in boiling water until soft. Drain them then toss with 1 tbsp of the olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.

While the potatoes are cooking, cover the tomatoes in boiling water for 1 minute, then slip out of their skins. Quarter, discard the seeds and chop the flesh. In a bowl, combine the tomato flesh with the capers, remaining olive oil, and half the lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper. Add the torn basil.

Heat the butter in a frying pan. Fry the plaice for a couple of minutes on each side over a medium heat. Squeeze over the remaining lemon juice and zest, and season. Remove from the heat.

Serve the plaice with the cooking juices poured over the top, together with the tomato mixture and new potatoes.

Plaice recipe and image credits are from Seafish.  More recipes on the Love Seafood website