Local plaice ‘Viennoise’
This baked plaice recipe from Robert Thompson is remarkably simple to prepare – the fish is spread with a rich tomato fondue, crusted in Parmesan and breadcrumbs then beautifully grilled and baked. Serve the Parmesan-crusted plaice fillets alongside a herby purée and steamed broccoli.
Ingredients
Whole plaice
- 1 whole plaice , skinned, filleted and trimmed
- oil
Crust
Tomato fondue
- 10 plum tomatoes
- 1 banana shallot
- 1 knob of butter
- 170ml of tomato juice
- 1 handful of thyme
- 1 pinch of sugar
- salt
- black pepper
- oil
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
- Parchment paper
Method
1
Skin 5 of the tomatoes, quarter and remove seeds. Dry the flesh well and then cut into 1cm cubes and set aside for later. Quarter the remaining tomatoes and remove seeds, roughly chop
2
Sweat the banana shallot in a little butter and oil until soft, add the roughly chopped tomato flesh, tomato juice, thyme stalks with leaves on, seasoning and a little sugar to taste. Bring to a simmer and then cook until the tomatoes are very soft and the mixture has thickened slightly. Remove the thyme and blend until smooth, return to the pan reducing further to a loose purée consistency
- 1 banana shallot
- oil
- 1 knob of butter
- 170ml of tomato juice
- 1 handful of thyme
- salt
- black pepper
- 1 pinch of sugar
3
Add the tomato cubes and check the seasoning. Allow to cool
4
Remove the crusts from the bread and blend them until fine in a food processor. Add the parmesan and soft butter. Season lightly and continue blending until the crust comes together. Roll out the crust mix in-between 2 pieces of parchment paper to a thickness of 3mm, refrigerate until firm
- 5 slices of white bread
- 250g of Parmesan
- 50g of butter
- salt
- black pepper
5
Lightly season each fillet of plaice before spreading each fillet generously with the tomato purée. Cut the crust to fit each fillet, remove paper and then press gently over the fondue
6
Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas mark 5 and turn the grill on a medium to high heat. Lightly oil a cold non-stick ovenproof pan and add the plaice carefully. Grill until the crust has started to colour before transferring to the oven. Cook for a further 1-2 minutes in the oven depending on thickness of fish
- oil
7
Plate all the components and serve immediately
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Local plaice ‘Viennoise’
