richard I intended to use sole for this recipe but when I saw the £26 a kilo price tag I nearly bolted in panic. Fortunately my fellow blogger calmed me down, took control of the situation and purchased two splendid (and considerably cheaper) fillets of plaice instead.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 6-8 minutes
Skill level: Easy
Ingredients
- 2 skinless plaice fillets -cut in half lengthways
- 1 carrot, 1 red pepper, 1/2 fennel bulb – cut into battons
- juice of 1/2 lemon
For the Salsa Verde
- flat-leaf parsley – handful
- mint – handful
- tattagon – handful
- capers – 1 tbsp
- anchovy fillets – 6 – drained
- dijon mustard – 1 tbsp
- olive oil
Blanch the carrot, fennel and pepper in boiling water for a minute and drain.
Generously season the plaice fillets.
Put 1/2 of the vegetables at one end of a fillet and roll up, secure with a cocktail stick and squeeze with some lemon juice. Repeat with the other 3 fillets.
Place on a plate, put in a steamer and cook covered for 4-6 minutes.
To make the salsa verde, blitz all the ingredients in a food processor, slowly adding the olive oil until it is of spooning consistancy.
Serve fish with a drizzle of the salsa verde.
Verdict: These days it’s hard to describe food without having Gregg Wallace’s voice in your head. First you get the sharpness of the salsa verde, then the crunch of the vegetables before the subtle fishiness of the plaice. All this dissolves to leave the cleansing gentle aniseed flavour of the fennel. Beautiful, etc.
Drink: Well we did our shopping at Borough Market, so tradition dictated that we cross the road to the Market Porter for a few perfectly kept and enthusiastically poured pints of real ale. Definitely one of the best pubs in the world.
Entertainment: ‘Casino Royale’ followed by ‘The Bourne Identity’. Who would win in a punch up between James and Jason? It would be a long fight but my money is on Jason. Obviously in my head I’ve already written the screenplay for a Bond meets Bourne film:
The CIA fail to capture Bourne so they dupe MI5 into going after him and of course Bond gets the job. Bourne is hell bent on following the clues to his identity but becomes aware he is being tracked by someone of equal calibre. Bond in turn grows to respect his quarry. As the film progresses Bond gets closer and closer to Bourne. Bourne realises he will never finish his quest with Bond on his trail and, sensing a kinship, leaves subtle clues which hint at the injustice of his plight. Bond in turn discovers the final clue which will help Bourne get even with his betrayers and live a normal life. Both men confront the bad guys (without actually ever meeting) in the most stylish, explosive and bloody 15 minutes in cinema history.
98.5% of the film will be one long adrenaline-filled car chase through all the major cities of Europe – Bond in a 1972 Mk1 Ford Transit and Bourne in a 1964 D-series Citroen.
At some stage both men will fall in love with the same woman, but she will turn out to be an evil Mossad agent and end up drowning.
The working title is ‘The Bourne Bond’ and the tag line ‘Bond was born to bond with Bourne’
At no point during the film will they kiss each other.
