Nick Fisher
LATIN NAME
Pleuronectes platessa
SEASONALITY
Avoid January–March when spawning
HABITAT
From the western Mediterranean, along the coast of Europe as far north as Iceland. Found all around the British Isles, most being caught in the North Sea
MCS RATING
3–5
REC MINIMUM SIZE
30cm
MORE RECIPES
Roast brill with air-dried ham and parsley sauce; Grilled flounder and tomatoes; Lemon sole poached in butter with thyme; Dover sole with seaweed butter; Herbed pouting fish fingers; Rice and fish with wasabi dressing
SOURCING
There’s something about plaice that feels very English: it’s a rather ‘nice’ sort of fish. Its fillets are tidy and flat. Its flesh is tasty, but definitely on the bland side of fishy. And it’s soft and delicate in texture, without being sensual and velvety, like sole, or abdominally ripped, like brill. It seems, all in all, a jolly decent, well-mannered fish.
Don’t be fooled. Plaice are the hoover-faced gut-buckets of the wild. Mostly they are targeted by trawlers and netters over smooth sand and mud, but catch one over a mussel bed on rod and line in spring or autumn, and a big plaice’s belly will rattle like a bag of marbles. A hungry plaice can suck in seed mussels the size of Brazil nuts by the dozen. I’ve counted over 20 whole mussels in the belly of a single plaice, making this normally svelte creature look like a python who’s swallowed a poodle.
When buying plaice, try and find out where it’s come from. It’s a popular creature and some stocks are overfished. The best choice currently is mature (i.e. at least 30cm) plaice from the North Sea and eastern English Channel. This is one of the few fish that improves with a day or two’s keeping, provided it’s been well looked after. Use your eyes: the splodges on a plaice’s tea-coloured back should be tangerine orange. If in doubt, flip the plaice over and have a look at its belly, which should be white as a nun’s crinoline. If it’s going grey or brown at the edges and has sticky mucus-y goo beginning to collect, choose something else.
Plaice fillets are very easy to cook and to eat. They don’t have bones, so they can be rolled up and stuffed with anything from pine nuts to salsa verde or anchovies. Fillets will poach, steam or fry effortlessly, but, if you’ve bought a big whole plaice (1kg-plus) or 2 smaller ones, I’d recommend roasting it. Lay the whole plaice in a greased roasting tray, surround it with cherry tomatoes, bay, basil, rosemary (anything green and herby), mixed with whole or crushed garlic cloves or even slices of chorizo, and then roast it hard and serve it up like a leg of lamb. Flaking the flesh off the bone and nibbling the crispy fins is a Sunday lunch experience not to be missed.
PLAICE WITH ROSEMARY, CAPER AND ANCHOVY BUTTER
This fast and fabulous dish partners plaice with a trio of big, bold flavours before it is whacked in a hot oven to sear and crisp. Brill, turbot and John Dory, even the humble flounder and dab, love this treatment too. Serves 2
2 plaice (500–600g each), gutted
FOR THE FLAVOURED BUTTER
50g butter, softened
Leaves from 3–4 sprigs of rosemary
1 tbsp capers, rinsed, drained and patted dry
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, sliced
6 anchovy fillets in oil
1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
Sea salt and black pepper
Preheat the oven to 220°C/Fan 200°C/Gas 7 and grease a large baking tray.
For the flavoured butter, put the butter, rosemary, capers, garlic, anchovies and oil into a small food processor and pulse to a fine-textured butter. Alternatively, chop the rosemary, capers, garlic and anchovies finely together before beating into the butter with the oil.
Lay the plaice side by side on the baking tray, dark side upwards. Use a sharp knife to cut 1cm-deep slashes into the dark side of the fish – three or four on each side of the central line should do it.
Heap the butter on to the fish and spread it out, making sure it finds its way into all the slashes. Season the fish with a little more salt and pepper. Transfer to the hot oven and cook for 15 minutes or until just done.
Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 3–4 minutes before serving. This is great with waxy potatoes and a green salad.