pan-fried lemon sole fillets with salsa verde

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, peeled

1 handful capers, drained

1 handful gherkins, drained and finely chopped

6 good-quality anchovy fillets in oil, finely chopped

2 bunches fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked and finely chopped

1 bunch fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

red wine vinegar

good-quality extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

300 g new potatoes, scrubbed or peeled

4 double sole fillets, from sustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, pinboned

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

flour

300 g purple sprouting broccoli

olive oil

1 knob butter

1 lemon

Method

To make your salsa verde, finely chop the garlic and put in a bowl. Add the capers, gherkins, anchovies, parsley, basil and mint. Mix in the mustard and 1 or 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, then 3 good lugs of olive oil, adding more if needed to make a loose mixture. Balance the flavours with pepper and, if necessary, salt and a little more red wine vinegar.

Put your new potatoes into a large pan of salted, boiling water and cook for 12 minutes with the lid on. Put the sole fillets into a clean plastic bag and season nicely with salt and pepper and a small handful of flour. Toss around until all the fillets are well coated. Just before you start cooking the fish, put your broccoli into a colander, place on top of the potato pan, cover with the lid and steam for 4 minutes or so until cooked.

While the broccoli is steaming, heat a lug of olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan and quickly but carefully put your fillets in so they all cook at the same time. Cook for a couple of minutes until beautifully golden, then, starting with the fillet that went in first, turn them all over. Once you've done that, add the butter to colour and flavour the fillets. Cook for no more than another 2 minutes. When the fillets are golden on both sides, remove the pan from the heat. Wait for 20 seconds before squeezing in the juice of ½ the lemon and shaking the pan about, otherwise the lemon juice will burn black and ruin the whole thing.

Divide the fish fillets between your plates with some of the juices from the pan. Drain the potatoes and divide them and the broccoli between the plates. Spoon the salsa verde over the fish and veg, put a lemon wedge beside each and tuck in – heaven!