Plaice or Lemon Sole with Herb Mussel Butter

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.

2. Turn the fish on its side and remove the head. Wash the fish and clean the slit very thoroughly. With a sharp knife, cut through the dark skin right round the fish, just where the ‘fringe’ meets the flesh. Be careful to cut neatly and to cross the side cuts at the tail or it will be difficult to remove the skin later on.

3. Sprinkle the fish with salt and freshly-ground pepper and lay them in a generous 5mm of water in a shallow baking tin. Roast in a moderately hot oven for 20-30 minutes according to the size of the fish. The water should have just evaporated as the fish is cooked.

4. Check to see whether the fish is cooked by lifting the flesh from the bone at the head; it should lift off the bone easily and be quite white with no trace of pink.

5. Wash the mussels under cold water and drain well.

6. Put into a saucepan, cover and cook on a medium heat. Check after 2 or 3 minutes by which time the mussels should be open and have given off some liquid. Remove from the pan, as soon as the mussels are cool enough, extract from their shells (save the shells to make a folly).

7. Strain the mussel liquid.

8. Just before serving, melt the butter and stir in the freshly-chopped herbs, add the mussels and a little mussel cooking liquid.

9. Just before serving catch the skin down near the tail and pull it off gently (the skin will tear badly if not properly cut).

10. Lift the fish onto hot plates and spoon the herb and mussel butter over each one.

11. Serve immediately.