MEGRIM SOLE - (2) Recipes

Megrim Sole - whole pan-fried

Last year I bought a couple of Megrim Sole in Santa Pola

Usually, I would roast or bake in the oven in a foil parcel as I did with the ones above which I cooked with sumac, garlic, oregano and tomatoes.  this takes about 15 minutes at 200C or 180C with a fan oven.  You can open the foil parcel for the last 5 minutes cooking. Many recipes suggest cooking with butter and lemon and maybe tarragon or thyme and I have also cooked it successfully at at home with lemon and ginger.

Roast Megrim with sumac. oregano, garlic and cherry tomatoes 

Previously,  I had also cooked Megrim a la plancha with sumac, fennel and garlic

Megrim a la plancha with sumac, fennel and garlic

On this occasion, I decided to try pan-frying whole with preserved lemons and fresh oregano - mainly because I had a ready supply of both.

Ingredients

1whole Megrim Sole
1teaspoon sumac
Peel of half a preserved lemon
2 cloves garlic (cut in thin slivers)
Pepper and salt to season (if using preserved lemons, less salt is needed)
1 dessertspoon chopped fresh oregano
Olive oil

Method

My fishmonger cleaned and trimmed the fish

Remove the flesh from the preserved lemon and discard. Wash excess salt from the peel and finely slice (if you don't have preserved lemons use the thinly pared peel of a fresh lemon. If using preserved lemons season very sparingly with salt as the lemons will be quite salty.

Make some slashes in the skin of the fish. Rub the fish all over with with a mixture of olive oil, sumac and oregano. Insert slivers of lemon and garlic in the slashes.  Put any remaining oregano, lemon and garlic in the body cavity.

Add a little olive oil to the frying pan and fry the Sole for 4-5 minutes on each side.

Just before it has finished cooking add half glass of white wine, let it bubble away for a few seconds and then remove the fish to a serving dish. Let the wine continue to cook mixing with the juices in the pan, spoon over the fish and serve with creamy mashed potatoes and spinach or green beans.

In Spain we often serve fish with grilled or roasted Italian peppers (these are very common and very cheap in Spain but I rarely see them in England).

 

John Austin

Santa Pola, January 2017