The Cottage Smallholder

Photo: Plaice with a breamy prawn sauce

We stopped eating fish for a while a few years ago as it was just so expensive. I made a fish pie one Christmas and the ingredients cost over £15.00.

Then I realised that there are often amazing bargains on a late Sunday afternoon from the Waitrose fish counter. With these and the regular offerings from the Tesco condemned food section we now have access to quite a lot of great fish and sea food for at least 50% of their normal value. A lot of fish is tossed into the freezer to be turned into fish pies but if we find plaice or sole these are great for a quick and simple deluxe supper. I prepare and cook all my vegetables first so the fish can be eaten perfectly cooked and it’s not hanging around getting dry in the warming oven.

The sauce is so easy, and is delicious even with just some fresh chopped parsley. I added a small handful of cooked prawns (bought for a third of the price and frozen in small batches to be added to soup, pies and garnish starters). Do check that they have not been previously frozen. Although if they are raw prawns, I quickly cook them and then freeze them.

The two fillets of plaice cost £1.20 (Waitrose offer price) and six kingsized prawns cost 50p (Tesco condemned food counter). The complete meal worked out at £1.25 a head, including the double cream (Tesco condemned food counter), peas (Netto frozen garden peas – surprisingly good) and spuds (East Anglian, offer price £1.49 for 2.5 kilos Tesco). Parsley was from the garden. The wine is left over wine donated by a client. The butter is Tesco Value.

Plaice with a creamy prawn sauce recipe (for 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of plaice
• A handful of cooked prawns
• A walnut sized knob of butter
• 3 tbsp of thick double cream
• 1 tbsp of dry white wine
• Lashings of ground white pepper and a few sprigs of chopped parsley

Method:

1. Over a gentle heat melt the knob of butter in a heavy bottomed sauté pan. Place the fish in the pan skin side down for 2-3 minutes. Using a fish slice, turn the fish over carefully and fry gently for another couple of minutes. Check to see that they are cooked through (the flesh should look creamy all the way through). Reserve the fish in a warm place.
2. Add the cream to the sauté pan it will initially become thinner but will gradually thicken over a low heat (keep stirring and add the prawns, a decent lash of ground white pepper and the wine). Within a few minutes you will have a wonderful sauce to pour over the plaice fillets. It is ready when the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon.
3. Pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with new potatoes and peas or French beans.