Barely a recipe this one, to be honest with you. But fried sage leaves are something that I love to eat and make often. If you grow sage, you probably have a metric shit tonne of the stuff, or if you buy some sage for a recipe, you’re bound to be left with some to use up. The answer to both situations is fry it in butter! Actually, this is the answer to most situations.

Fried sage leaves are lovely with pan-fried fish and one of my go-to weeknight ‘just-got-home, want-to-eat-right-now’ dinners. In late spring/early summer, I’d serve this with a salad of crunchy blanched asparagus and cherry tomatoes dressed with good extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and some boiled new season Jersey Benne potatoes. 

Fried sage leaves with gurnard

Serves two

50g butter plus a tablespoon extra

a handful of fresh sage leaves, stems removed

300g fresh gurnard fillets (or another medium-fleshed fish, such as terakihi) 

2 tablespoons plain or gluten-free flour 

a pinch of salt & a grind of black pepper 

Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the sage leaves and cook until they start to darken and shrivel.

Put flour, salt and pepper onto a plate, or if you’ve bought the fish wrapped up in paper, open up the packet and sprinkle the flour and seasonings straight in to save on dishes (you’re welcome). 

Place the fish fillets into the frying pan on top of the sage leaves. Give the pan a shake and allow the fish to cook for 2-3 minutes on one side. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan. Flip the fillets over and continue cooking for another 1-2 minutes. Place the fillets and onto a serving plate, sprinkle with sage leaves and pour over any butter left in the pan. Serve with a wedge of lemon for squeezing over the fish.