A recipe for rampant lettuce

For my Friday night supper, I am continuing my struggle to stay on top of the overburdened lettuce pots in the garden. I can only get through so much with lunchtime salads, so today a new tactic - cooking with lettuce.

This is a quick, easy supper that could be light and healthy too if you omitted the butter sauce; but then where's the fun in that?



Grilled plaice with braised lettuce, peas & parsley butter sauce

Serves 2

2 plaice fillets, seasoned and lightly oiled with olive oil
2 large handfuls of whatever lettuce you are cursed with
1/2 cup of peas
25g butter
1 lemon
small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
small bunch of chives, chopped
2 tsps capers

1) Turn on the grill to its highest setting and leave to warm up. Meanwhile, cover a tray with foil to place the fish on.

2) Squeeze the juice of the lemon into a small pan and heat until bubbling, then add 3/4 of the butter and thoroughly whisk in. If it seems too thick you can add a touch of water. Add the capers and parsley and put to one side.

3) Put the plaice under the grill - you can cook the vegetables while it's cooking. It will only need 2 minutes on each side, no more!

4) Heat the remaining butter in a large saucepan, then fry the peas for one minute before adding the lettuce and cooking for just one more minute.

5) Plate up and scatter over the chives - this needs some good crusty bread on the side to mop up all the sinful juices.