
Chef Thomas
Anglesey Eggs
Eggs bedded into leek-flecked mash under a blanket of sharp cheese sauce, baked until golden and bubbling. A Welsh supper dish that proves the simplest things are usually the best.
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Created by Chef Thomas
Lemon sole fried quickly in butter that has been cooked past gold to something deeper and nuttier, with capers crisped in the fat and a squeeze of lemon to cut through it all. Ten minutes. Two plates. A good evening.
The fishmonger had lemon sole on Friday. Four of them, laid out on the ice, translucent and pearly, with that faint clean smell that tells you everything you need to know. I bought two. Didn't need to think about what to do with them. Some fish carry their own recipe home in the bag.
Lemon sole is a quiet fish. Delicate, thin, not trying to impress. It wants butter and heat and very little else. The whole thing takes ten minutes from cold pan to warm plate, and most of that time is spent standing at the hob watching butter change colour. Which, if you pay attention, is one of the more absorbing things that can happen in a kitchen on a Tuesday evening.
Brown butter is the heart of this. There's a moment when it crosses from melted to golden to something altogether deeper, smelling of hazelnuts and warm toast, and that smell is the only instruction you need. Capers go in and spit and crisp like tiny salty punctuation marks. A squeeze of lemon. Parsley, because parsley belongs here the way it belongs in most things. Dinner.
I wrote it down in the notebook: sole, brown butter, capers, the kitchen window open. That was the whole entry. Some meals don't need explaining.
Quantity
2 whole
trimmed and skinned by the fishmonger
Quantity
enough for dusting
Quantity
to taste
Quantity
to taste
Quantity
60g
Quantity
2 tablespoons
drained
Quantity
1
Quantity
small handful
roughly chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| lemon soletrimmed and skinned by the fishmonger | 2 whole |
| plain flour | enough for dusting |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
| unsalted butter | 60g |
| capersdrained | 2 tablespoons |
| lemon | 1 |
| flat-leaf parsleyroughly chopped | small handful |
Pat the sole dry with kitchen paper. This matters more than you think. Wet fish won't colour, it'll steam and turn pale and sad in the pan. Season both sides with salt and pepper, then dust lightly with flour, shaking off anything that doesn't cling. You want a whisper of flour, not a coat.
Put a wide, heavy pan over a medium-high heat. Add half the butter and let it foam. When the foam subsides and the butter smells warm and sweet, lay the fish in, presentation side down. Don't crowd the pan. If both don't fit comfortably, cook them one at a time. Leave them alone. Two to three minutes on the first side, until the edges turn golden and you can slide a fish slice underneath without resistance. Turn carefully and give them another minute or two. The flesh should be white and just firm, yielding to a gentle press. Lift the fish onto warm plates.
Wipe the pan if the flour has caught, then return it to the heat. Add the remaining butter. Watch it. This is the moment that makes the dish. The butter will foam, then settle, then begin to turn from gold to a deep amber, and the kitchen will smell of hazelnuts and toast. That smell is your timer. The second you catch it, toss in the capers. They'll spit and sizzle and crisp in the hot fat. Squeeze in the juice of half the lemon, let it hiss and bubble, then take the pan off the heat. Stir through the parsley.
Spoon the brown butter, capers, and parsley over the fish. Cut the remaining lemon half into wedges and put them alongside. Serve immediately, while the butter is still pooling on the plate and the capers are still crisp. New potatoes if you have them. A green salad if you don't. Nothing more.
1 serving (about 200g)
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