Oven-Fried Sanddab with Summer Salad

To serve, take the fish out, let them rest a minute or two, then arrange one or two on a plate with the golden brown side up. A rich white wine like a Roussanne or a buttery Chardonnay is good with this, but so is a lager or pilsner beer.

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 pounds sand dabs
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon water
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 pound fresh tomatoes
  • 2 avocados
  • 1 ear sweet corn
  • 1/2 chopped Vidalia onion
  • 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
  • Salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon

Directions

Mayonnaise sauce

  1. In a bowl, add the egg yolk, lemon juice, water, and kosher salt and mix well with a wire whisk.
  2. Slowly add in the olive oil while whisking furiously. Once you have any given amount of oil incorporated, you can rest a bit, then continue adding the remainder.
  3. Your mayo will be yellow and softer than the white store-bought version. It will also be more perishable, so put it in the fridge for now.
  4. Preheat your oven to 475 F.

Salad

  1. Cut the tomatoes into large chunks, then do the same with the avocado, and put them into a bowl. Cover with the lemon juice.
  2. Add the finely chopped sweet onion and the parsley, then add the sweet corn. Use a stout knife to cut the kernels from the cob of corn; sometimes it helps to cut the cob in half first.
  3. Mix everything together gently—don’t mash the avocado—and add olive oil, salt, and black pepper to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature.

Oven-Fried Sanddabs

  1. Take out the fish and the mayo and fill a shallow, wide bowl with the breadcrumbs.
  2. Brush or hand-rub mayo thickly onto the sanddabs, then, holding them by the tail, lay them one at a time into the bowl of breadcrumbs.
  3. Pick the fish up by the tail again and flip the other side onto the breadcrumbs. Make sure they are well-covered.
  4. Gently lay the fish with the dark skin facing up on a heatproof pan, cookie sheet, oiled foil or whatever you intend to cook them in. A baker’s silicone sheet over a cookie tray works particularly well.
  5. Cook in the oven for 6-12 minutes until the fish is a nice golden brown. Do not flip.