Details

Plaice with potatoes (Rombo con patate)

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Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 30-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy  

This recipe is a clear reminder of an Italian rule of thumb when cooking fish: never mess with fish!
Far too often, when dealing with fish, I see too many ingredients added to it. Just watch some of the many TV cooking programs and you will recognise the non-confident cook from the amount of ingredients he/she uses; the more ingredients used the less confident is the cook!
This recipe works very well with whole flat fish and when you buy it, look for turbot (in Italy we call it rombo) or brill, alternatively use a plaice as I did. You can use the same technique to cook turbot (or brill) fillets if you like, but there is nothing more exciting than presenting a whole fish to your guests.

SERVES 4

Ingredients (Metric & Imperial measurements): 

• 1 Kg (2.2 lb) Plaice (whole fish)
• 1 Kg (2.2 lb) Large potatoes
• 75 ml (3 fl oz) Extra virgin olive oil (for the salsa - keep this in a small bowl)
• 60 ml (2 fl oz) Extra virgin olive oil (for brushing - keep this in a glass)
• A handful of flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)
• 3 Cloves of garlic
• 6 Small sprigs of rosemary
• Few drops of lemon juice
• Coarse salt and black ground pepper for seasoning

Ingredients (U.S. measurements): 

• 35 ounces (2 pounds 3 ounces) Plaice (whole fish)
• 35 ounces (2 pounds 3 ounces) Large potatoes
• 5 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil (for the salsa - keep this in a small bowl)
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 cup) Extra virgin olive oil (for brushing - keep this in a glass)
• A handful of flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)
• 3 Cloves of garlic
• 6 Small sprigs of rosemary
• Few drops of lemon juice
• Coarse salt and black ground pepper for seasoning

Note 1: ask your fishmonger to clean the fish (only gut it and leave gills and fins on it), so when you go home you have just to give it a rinse and that's it.

Note 2: in the picture above there should be an half lemon that I forgot to put. I apologise for this.

Directions: 

To start, we prepare the salsa. Chop all the parsley with only one clove of garlic. I used the chopper because I want these chopped as finely as it can get. Next, put the chopped contents into the bowl containing olive and give it a stir.

Add few drops of lemon juice.

Finally, season with a pinch of salt, stir and put the salsa aside.

Peel the potatoes and cut them in thin slices using a mandolin. The slices should be about 3 mm (1/8") thick.

Take a large oven tray, cut a piece of greaseproof paper of the same dimension of the tray and brush the paper with olive oil.

Place the potatoes slices on the greaseproof paper, in the shape of your fish.

Brush the potato slices with olive oil.

Season the potato slices with salt.

Season the potato slices with pepper.

Next, put the tray into the oven and let the potatoes cook at 200°C (400°F) for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile you prepare your fish, first patting it dry with kitchen paper.

Then, putting a couple of rosemary sprigs and the remaining cloves of garlic into its cavity.

Now, remember the tray you have in the oven? Take it out and put the fish onto the layer of potato slices. Leave the oven on because soon you are going to put the fish into it.

Brush the fish with olive oil.

Season with salt.

Now, cover the fish with the remaining potato slices. Brush the potato slices with oil and season with salt and pepper. Around the fish, put the remaining rosemary springs as you can see in the picture.

Next, put the tray into the oven and cook for about 30 minutes at 200°C (400°F).

After 30 minutes the fish should look like this, however you may need some extra time if you use a bigger fish.

To serve, put some of the fish meat onto a potato bed and garnish the fish with a little touch of salsa.

Buon appetito!