Crispy Butterflied Herring With Garlicky Kale Butter Beans

Budget-friendly recipes don’t get much greater than our crispy butterflied herring with garlicky kale butter beans!

Featuring two of our favourite low-cost ingredients, flash-frozen herring and canned beans, this recipe has quickly become a new seasonal favourite. Using a sharp knife, whole herring are quickly butterflied before receiving a light flour coating. Pan-fried in a hot pan until golden and crispy, the herring are then removed and set aside while butter beans, kale, garlic, and seasonings are added and gently simmered in the pan. Once the beans are gorgeous and glossy, they’re spooned onto a plate and topped with the crispy herring - delicious!

Servings: 2 people

Prep Time: ~30 mins | Cook time: ~15 mins

Ingredients

• 2 bags flash-frozen herring (approx. 4 fish per bag), thawed
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• ½ lemon, zest and juice (separated)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil, for panfrying

Kale Butter Beans

• 400g can of butter beans, don’t drain
• 6 leaves of Tuscan kale, de-stalked and roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• ½ lemon, zest and juice
• Handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tsp capers, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp butter

Directions

1. Begin by butterflying your herring. Under cool running water, quickly rinse the fish. Next, remove the head of the fish by cutting behind the front fin and gills. Using a sharp knife, open the fish's cavity and gently slice above the spine, slowly moving down towards the tail, to carefully open and flatten the fish. Run your knife below the spine to separate it from the flesh, then cut to remove. Trim off the rib cage on either side of your butterflied fillet, then set aside. This video is a helpful visual!
2. On a plate, combine the flour, lemon zest, and a generous crack of salt and pepper. Pat dry the herring fillets with paper towels, then press the fish flesh side down in the flour mixture. Any remaining flour can be dusted over the skin side.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once nice and hot, fry the herring flesh side for 2-3 minutes until golden, before flipping and frying for a further 2 minutes on the skin side. Remove from the pan and leave to drain on paper towels. Note: You may need to cook the herring in batches, depending on the size of your pan.
4. In the same pan you used for the herring, throw in your butter beans along with the juices. Drop the heat to medium-low and allow the beans to reduce for another few minutes. Add the garlic and kale. Sauté for a further minute until fragrant.
5. Finish the beans with the zest and juice of half a lemon, the capers, parsley and butter. Stir to combine.
6. Serve the beans on plates. Top with 2-4 of the butterflied herring fillets and a final squeeze of lemon and drizzle of olive oil. Enjoy!

Notes

• We found around 3 butterflied herring fillets per person to be a good portion, but you can scale up or down as you wish! Any leftover fillets can be reheated in a pan with a touch of oil.
• For another great substitute, try pairing these beans with any of our flash-frozen salmon or lingcod fillets.

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