White Fish Fillets on a Potato Raft
A couple of weeks ago thekitchn.com featured a week’s worth of sheet pan recipe from Molly Gilbert’s cookbook Sheet Pan Suppers: 120 Recipes for Simple, Surprising, Hands-Off Meals Straight from the Oven. I LOVE sheet pan recipes because they are usually easy to prepare and often feature your main and sides in one dish. Unsurprisingly, I put this cookbook on my wish list. I’m sharing two of these recipes in this week’s meal plan, starting with this fish recipe. I used lemon sole, but you can try any firm, white fish.
(Clearly I am craving crispy potatoes with this baby because here they are again!)
1 1/2 lbs. russet potatoes (about 2 medium), unpeeled and scrubbed, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
2 TB. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 ts. kosher salt
1/2 ts. freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless sole fillets or other firm white fish (5 ounces each and 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick)
4 TB. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 lemon, thinly sliced
8 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons capers, drained
Preheat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the center position. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper until thoroughly coated.
Assemble 4 potato rafts by overlapping potato slices on the prepared pan in rectangular mounds. Each raft should consist of 3 or 4 shingled rows and be roughly 4 x 6 inches; use 3 or 4 slices of potato per row.
Roast the potatoes, rotating the pan halfway through, until golden brown and beginning to crisp, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven.
Blot the fish fillets dry with a paper towel. Place one, skin-side down, centered on top of each potato raft. Top each piece of fish with 1 tablespoon butter, 2 lemon slices, and 2 sprigs thyme. Scatter the capers atop the fish and around the pan.
Return the pan to the oven and roast until the fish is flaky and opaque, about 15 minutes.
Transfer the potato rafts and accompanying fillets to individual plates, ideally with a big spatula. Serve hot.
