Plaice Fillets Rolled in Cabbage with Prosecco Sauce by Aldo Zilli
This recipe, if you have the time, is quite fantastic. Any sparkling wine will do if you can’t find
Prosecco, or even white wine, so give it a go and really impress your friends. Serves 4
Ingredients:
25 g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
3 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped lemon thyme
50 g wholemeal breadcrumbs
juice of 1 lemon
8 large cabbage leaves
8 small plaice fillets
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Prosecco sauce
1 bottle of Prosecco
a pinch of saffron (optional)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 banana shallots, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1⁄2 lemon grass stalk, smashed
200 ml fish stock
250 ml double cream
juice of 1 lemon
First make the stuffing. Place the butter in a pan and let it melt over the heat and begin to
froth. Add the onion and garlic and sauté, stirring, for 3–4 minutes until soft. Remove from the
heat. Then add the tomatoes, thyme, breadcrumbs and lemon juice. Season to taste and set
aside to cool.
Put the cabbage leaves into boiling, salted water for 2 minutes until al dente, then plunge
into iced water and pat dry. Place a cabbage leaf on to a piece of cling film and lightly season
with salt and pepper (make sure the cling film is slightly larger than the cabbage). Put a plaice
fillet on top of the cabbage (again making sure the cabbage leaf is larger than the fish). Put a
small ball of the cooled stuffing mix on to one end of the plaice and, holding the cling film, roll
up tightly; be sure that the cling film remains on the outside only. Repeat with the remaining
cabbage leaves and fish, to give two rolls per portion.
Pour the bottle of Prosecco into a pan and reduce by three-quarters to intensify the flavour.
Add the saffron at this stage if you have it.
Steam the fish in the cling film parcels for approximately 12–15 minutes. Heat the olive oil in
a separate pan and slowly pan-fry the shallots, garlic and lemon grass for 4–5 minutes until soft.
Add the reduced Prosecco and fish stock to this mix and reduce again by one third. Add the
double cream and reduce by one third again. Squeeze in some lemon juice and season with salt
and pepper to taste. Pass through a sieve. Remove the cling film from the fish and slice each roll
in half so you can see the layers. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve.
*taken from the book ‘From Seed to plate’ by Paolo Arrigo, published by Simon and Schuster