Deep-fried plaice and tartare sauce recipe

By Tom Norrington-Davies

Serves 4
Ready in 30 minutes
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A word of warning: once you have made your own tartare sauce you will never be able to eat the awful, chip-shop, sachet version, ever again! If you have access to a good fishmonger he should be able to get fresh plaice fillets. A good alternative is lemon or witch (megrim) sole.

Ingredients

4 medium or 8 small plaice fillets (about 200g per person is ideal)
40g plain flour
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
2 tbsp milk
150g fresh breadcrumbs
Mild vegetable oil, for deep-frying
2 lemons, halved, to serve

For the tartare sauce

2 tbsp capers, rinsed
2 tbsp cornichons, rinsed
2 tsp roughly chopped fresh tarragon
2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
6 tbsp mayonnaise (see our recipe for mayo)

Method

1. Make the tartare sauce first. Basically, chop the capers and cornichons as roughly or finely as you like, then combine with the chopped herbs. I prefer to keep my tartare sauce quite rough, so I chop the ingredients very sparingly. Whatever you do, don’t throw them in the food processor. Finally, combine with the mayonnaise. Season to taste, but go easy on the salt, since the capers will be salty.
2. Season the plaice with salt and a grinding of pepper. Then dust it with the flour on both sides. Now you need to make an assembly line: beat the eggs with the milk in a large mixing bowl. Put the crumbs in another bowl. Dip the fillets into the egg mix, then the crumbs. Lay them on a flat tray and set aside while you deal with the oil.
3. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or pan until it is 175°C. If you are not using a fryer or thermometer, test the oil with a small cube of bread – drop it into the hot oil. If it fizzes vigorously and turns golden in less than a minute, it’s ready. Fry the fish in batches, for 2 minutes each time.
4. Drain on kitchen paper before serving, with the sauce and an outsized wedge of lemon.

Nutritional info

Per serving: 653kcals, 36.9g fat (5.5g saturated), 44.5g protein, 38.9g carbs, 2.5g sugar, 2.3g salt

Wine Recommendation

Chablis is the posh but perfect option here, it’s light butteriness goes so well with the battered fish and its crispness cuts through the sauce. Brilliant.