Roast plaice, with mustard leeks and mushrooms

Easy, and a nice change.  Lovely plaice from Paul the fish, Todmorden market - veg from the outside market and olive oil, good dijon mustard and garlic from me at The Mediterranean Pantry.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Leeks
Mixed herbs
Garlic
Mushrooms
Mustard
Baby spinach
Plaice

1.  Chop potatoes (washed, but peel on) into chunks, toss in olive oil, sprinkle on sea salt, and roast.
2.  Sautee leeks, crushed garlic and mushroom in olive oil, add a sprinkle of mixed herbs, and a teaspoonful of dijon mustard, add a little water to provide a little steam.  When the leeks are nearly soft stir in a big handful of baby spinach and transfer to an oven dish.
3.  Lay the plaice, skin side down on the bed of vegetables - drizzle with olive oil and grind on a little black pepper.   Roast for about 20 minutes.
4.  Dinner is done - serve, scoff.

Plaice with a shrimp and garlic sauce

Paul the fish on Todmorden market has confirmed our Friday is fish day habits as his fish is so consistently fantastic..  There is no religious significance to this, but it has developed into a thing ... and today I choose plaice and to jazz it up a bit with a buttery, garlicy shrimp sauce.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Plaice
Butter
Garlic
Shrimps
Black pepper
Frozen peas

1.  Roast chopped potatoes in olive oil.
2.  Chat ... there's nothing to do until 10 minutes before you eat.
3.  Fry the plaice gently in a mix of butter and oil (to stop it burning) for a a couple of minutes on each side - keep warm in the oven.
4.  Boil peas.
5.  Briefly fry crushed garlic and peas in butter and oil in the fish pan - pour over the fish.
6.  Serve, scoff

Effortless plaice and vegetables

Home alone this week, as my primary victim is enjoying a week sailing in the sun in the Greek Islands.  So, after catching up with work today, wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity to cook fish (primary victim is not keen on the flavour, and HATES the smell) - but to also have time available for lots of faffing.  I find that faffing is an activity best enjoyed in quiet me moments.

So, this took 10 minutes (if that) to put together, and left me with a full hour to enjoy faffing / mooching - and a little bit of plotting.

Then, make a hash of putting it out, but it was delish nontheless.


Recipe

1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek
Handful green beans
I clove garlic
4 big (or more smaller) mushrooms
4 medium sized new potatoes
2 tomatoes
2 plaice fillets
1 lemon

Do this:-

1.  Chop leek and sautee in olive oil.
2.  Add chopped green beans, chopped mushrooms, sliced potatoes and crushed garlic, stir around for a minute.
3.  Add a cup of water.  Simmer for a couple of minutes.  Move veg around to form a single layer.
4.  Layer fish on top.  Add tomato and lemon slices.
5.  Season, cover - stick in oven for about 30 minutes (or an hour in this case).