I took the instructions from this recipe, and because of my limited pantry I just threw together a lemon butter sauce by melting butter in a small pan, adding a bunch of lemon zest, and cooking it for a few minutes.

It’s super easy, and hard to mess up! A+!

Beer Battered Fish (serves 4)

Heat enough olive oil, to shallow fry the fish, in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

In a shallow dish, whisk together 1/2 cup of the flour, beer, egg, and baking powder. Remember to do this methodically, because if you just dump the beer in there it will foam up and spill over into a nasty mess on your counter.

Place remaining 1/4 cup flour in a separate shallow dish.

Season both sides of fish fillets with salt and black pepper. Dredge fish in flour, turn to coat both sides and then shake off excess flour. Dunk fish in beer mixture and turn to coat both sides.

Add fish to hot oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, until cooked through and opaque. Remove fish from oil. Place on a paper towel lined plate.

There are a lot of beer battered fish recipes out there, so I recommend trying a variety of them! Report back on the results as well so I can try them.

Some links to get you started:

Homemade Beer Battered Fish and Chips (the classic! This blog post gives lots of good basic tips.)

Beer and Chipotle-Battered Fish Tacos

Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Baja Sauce

Sole à la meunière (Translation: Fancy-ass fish sticks.)

• 1 lb Dover sole filets*
• salt, pepper, flour, milk
• 1 stick of butter
• 3-4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped fine

Season the sole filets with salt and pepper on both sides, then dip them in milk and dredge them in flour until lightly coated. Heat 4-5 tbsp of butter in a skillet on medium until melted and foaming, then fry the sole filets, turning once until browned on both sides. Remove the sole to a serving platter (cover it with a paper towel if desired), and remove the skillet from heat. In a fresh saucepan, melt the remaining butter and let it brown slowly on medium-low heat (it will turn a brown color and smell nutty). Carefully pour the hot butter into the fishy skillet, stir it to let the butter absorb the fishiness, then pour the resulting butter mixture over the fish. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve immediately.

* So apparently you have to be very careful when buying sole, because there are two species of fish named Dover sole, and one of them (the one I expect is more commonly available in American supermarkets) is not truly sole. They are both flat fish, but real Dover sole has a very delicate flaky texture and an unmistakable subtle taste which the other kind lacks completely.

The fishing industry is really sketchy with naming, by the way (another example is how basa swai can’t be labeled “giant catfish” even though that’s what it is, because the catfish lobby is just that powerful). I guess they figure that one white, flat fish looks the same as all the others!

Chicken breasts in sage brown butter (with polenta!)

Serves 2 to a great degree of satisfaction, possibly up to 4 if you added another vegetable (honey roasted carrots would do well!)

• 1/2 stick of butter, plus another 1/2 stick on reserve
• 1 package of fresh sage (or about 20 largish leaves)
• 2 boneless, (but optionally skinful) chicken breasts, butterflied (bisected through the xy-plane)
• salt, cracked black pepper
• 1 box instant polenta, prepared according to box directions

Pat the chicken dry and rub in salt and black pepper. Melt half a stick of butter on medium-high heat in a large skillet, and let it brown (but be careful not to let it burn or foam up too much). It will develop a brownish color and a nutty aroma (and flavor). Drop in the sage leaves and stir for about 5 minutes, or until deliciously fragrant of sage. Move the leaves to the sides of the pan, and place the chicken breasts in the pan (with skin down first if using skin). Brown the chicken (about 7-10 minutes on each side) until done, making sure that the sage remains moist and covered with butter the entire time, adding more butter to the pan if necessary (it was for me, but who knows, you might get lucky!).

Remove the cooked chicken breasts and cover with a towel to keep them warm and reserve about 1/4 cup of the juice/fat/butter for serving. Adjust the heat to high, until butter smokes and foams a little. Add the instant polenta to the pan (I had some leftover; judge for yourself how sagey you would like the polenta), and let it brown and crisp on the outside, stirring to mix in the butter mixture. Salt to taste. Serve the chicken breasts over the polenta, and pour the reserved juices over top.

Last step: EAT IT :v … preferably with a nice Italian red.