Panerad Spätta / Battered Sole fish

We all know how healthy fish is so we decided that we wanted to cook fish again. This time it is my, Andreas, favorite fish. Sole fish taste different compared to other white oceans fish such as Cod and its relatives.

When I was a child my family used to go out to the ocean for the day in the summer to taste the water and the beach. On our way home, by car, we used to stop at a fisher man and buy fresh sole fish. What me and Martina did is that same recipe but with our own personal touch to it.

This fish goes best with boiled potatoes in my opinion. Preferably small potatoes that have a bit more concentrated flavour. It will be served with melted butter and creme fresh. We also added some asparagus cause it was in the fridge.

Boiled potatoes with dill, coriander, chives and basil:
500 g small potatoes
Some dill
Some coriander
Some chives
Some basil! ;)
2 garlic cloves
1 onion

some pieces of lemon rind
Salt

You'll want to start boiling the potatoes so you can concentrate on the fish. The fish wont take a long time anyway.

Boil water and put in the Potatoes, garlic, onion, some strips of lemon rind and then lots of salt. Now just let it boil for 25 -30 minutes.

Finishing the potatoes:
When the potatoes are finished pour the water out and prepare a clean bowl. Glass or porcelain will make it look nicer than if it is in stainless steel, unless you have a thing for stainless steel. Now put only the potatoes, not the onion, garlic or rind remnants, into the bowl and mix it dry with your fresh herbs; dill, coriander, basil, chives and course salt. It won't need any fat like butter or oil because the water we boiled them in was so flavourful and they will have a slight hint of all the flavours in the water!


Battered Sole fish:
4 Sole fish
Bread crumbs (or flour if you like)
1 egg
Salt and Pepper
Butter

First thing for the fish is to place three plates one after the other. The first plate, deep preferably, should contain the egg, so crack it open and whip it a bit so the yellow and the white scrambles. Then put a mix of salt and pepper in the egges because this is the only extra taste the fish will get. The second bowl should contain the bread crumbs. The third plate is where you put the battered fish.

Take a sole fish and put it in the bowl with eggs and cover the fish with egg. Then sling it over the the plate with bread crumbs and cover the fish with it. Now put it gently on the last plate. If you do not handle them carefully here the end result will not end up as nice. Do this for all the fish and then go over to the pan.

I cook fish on quite a low temperature because the fish flesh is very fragile. So heat the pan to just below or on medium temperature. Then put in butter and wait for it to melt. We also put in almond oil which gave the fish a bit of a nutty flavour. If you choose to do this then make sure the temperature does not get too high in the pan.

Put on the sole fish and let it fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side. The more flour or sugar the bread crumbs contain the easier it will burn. Also make sure that you only have to flip the fish one time in the pan because again the fish is fragile and you do not want to damage it.

Melting the butter.
We served this with melted butter and if you would like to try this deliciously unhealthy variation then go ahead and put some butter in a pan and let it melt on low temperature. You know when it is done when you can see that the different things in the butter has separated. There will be a top layer of a thicker substance and I want this to be removed because it subtracts more from the taste than adds.

Add some asparagus:
We had this with asparagus. The small green ones. Just put them into boiling water with salt and let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Any longer will make them loose their crunchiness.


Now you should have 4 battered sole fish with a bowl of boiled potates with fresh herbs and melted butter and a plate with asparagus. Serve it however you like but a tip is to put only one fish on the plate at the time and then only 6 small potatoes. It will look nicer for the eye and you will have a chance to eat more.

Thank you and we hope you can enjoy this as much as we did.

Andreas & Martina