Fish and Grapes¶
359 words on Recipes
Sometimes it just happens. You’re hungry, you read a simple recipe in a newspaper, and before long you’re curious or even drooling and want to try it out. And thus I found myself buying some flatfish (OK I bought plaice but flatfish just sounds funny), some grapes, chervil and gearing up with butter and lemon at home.
Cooking the dish was nice and simple. As I wanted rice to go with it, I first put some rice in the rice cooker. Then I halved the seedless grapes and put them in a medium-hot pot with plenty of melted butter (quantity: a knob
– whatever that may be). It takes a moment for the grapes to become soft, so I started with that. While they are cooking you spice them with salt and pepper – where the pepper plus grapes combination turns out to be brilliant. At the end you’ll have soft-ish grapes which lost a bit of their colour and which are in a slightly spicy buttery sauce. Just before finishing to cook them add some lemon juice and half of the chopped chervil (OK I used rough parsley instead because I couldn’t figure out that chervil is Kerbel in German while at the supermarket) you bought.
While the grapes are simmering, fry the fish after salting and peppering it. First the side with the skin in an olive oiled pan for a few minutes and to finish it off turn the pieces and fry the other side while adding some extra butter for bonus goldenness and butteriness. While doing that I found that the thin slices of fish are rather fragile and like to fall apart when you turn them over.
And once you did all that, dinner is ready. Serve as rice + fish+ grapes + leftover chervil and you’ll be fine.
Cheers to The Guardian and Mr Rhodes for the idea.
[Wondering whether I should put an amazon link or not… I quite like the recipe but seeing the guy’s picture on the book titles reminded me that he’s the TV cook I really don’t like, so I wouldn’t buy his book… Hmhmhm.]
