Plaice Parcels

Serves 4

I absolutely adore fish – and plaice is one of my favourites because of its wonderfully light texture.

Wrapping these fillets in chard leaves may seem fiddly - but believe me, it isn’t. The delicate flavour and excellent health benefits are worth any effort involved to cook this recipe.

4 large chard leaves
4 plaice fillets, outer scales removed
350ml/ 12 fl oz vegetable or fish stock
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 tbspns olive oil
200g/ 7 oz chopped tomatoes
1 tbspn flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Blanch the chard for about 3 minutes. Sieve, place carefully into cold water then dry with a kitchen towel.

Put the fish fillets on a chopping board and half them lengthwise. Lay each fillet on a chard leaf and roll up reasonably tightly.

Put the fillets into an ovenproof dish into which they fit snugly. Pour over the stock.

Cover with a lid or kitchen foil and bake at 180C/350F/ gas mark 4 for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, sauté the garlic and shallots gently in the olive oil.

Stir in the tomatoes and parsley and heat through – about 5 minutes.

Serve the fish parcels with the tomato sauce on the side

Michael’s Tip
Skinning fish isn’t nearly as difficult as it seems. Get a very sharp knife, put the fish on a clean tea towel and starting from the tail end, and just put the knife through.

It takes less than a minute.

Make more tomato sauce and use it as a topping for spaghetti. It will keep in the freezer for several months.