Pan Fried Dover Sole with Cultured Butter Garlic and Burnt Lemon by Sertac Dirik
"After spending a couple years working in Copenhagen, I returned to my family restaurant Mangal 2 in Dalston to help renovate and alter our concept with my brother Ferhat Dirik. We proceeded to serve Turkish food through the lens of London in July 2020 and thankfully it's been received with anticipation and excitement. Here are a few dishes you may find within a typical Turkish home setting; warm, comforting and relatively easy to prepare. I hope you enjoy them."
Sertac Dirik, Mangal 2
- 1 Whole Dover Sole
- 150g Cultured Butter or Kaymak
- 50g Minced Garlic
- 1/2 Lemon
To begin, melt your butter and add your minced garlic, stir well and have ready with a brush and a spoon.
Coat your fish with a healthy amount of sunflower oil and sea salt whilst your butter is melting.
Oil your pan well on a medium/high heat - once hot enough place your fish down and your lemon on the flesh side down. The technique here is to keep pressing your lemon into the pan so it both cooks and releases juice so you can continue to baste your fish once it's flipped.
Whilst cooking one side of your fish, proceed to brush on your garlic/butter mixture - you'll want to do this around every 30 seconds until you find your butter/juices begin to mix in the pan as it's cooking.
After around 6 minutes one side of your fish should be well browned. Carefully, grabbing the head side with tongs proceed unto flipping your fish over. Once flipped, continue basting the fish with a spoon, with the juices in the pan until the fish is properly cooked. This should take around 4/5 minutes. Remove your pan from the heat and allow the fish to cook in it's residual heat for a minute before serving.
I highly recommend using a thick soft loaf to lap up the leftover juices left in the pan. This dish doesn't need much else.
