We do well with fish at our restaurant. I don’t necessarily do a lot with it – simply grilled and served plain with no sauce being one of the most popular options – but I think diners trust me to give them good fish.

The other advantage of fish in restaurants is that the chefs do all that messy stuff, such as getting rid of the nasty, smelly wrapping and cleaning the pots and pans. Time was that housewives used to bring back a few herrings, scale them and gut them, fry the soft roes and put them on toast and grill the rest for the children’s tea. That was before we had designer kitchens and there is no point having a designer kitchen if it is going to smell of fish, is there?

I mock. There is a kernel of truth, however: a lot of people are a bit afraid of fish. They don’t mind a salmon fillet, a tuna steak or a few prawns, perhaps, but they are not so confident when it comes to a proper piece of fish, especially when it is on the bone. I was musing on this the other night when I bought some John Dory at my local fishmonger and cooked them in a trice. Below you can see what I did and, to paraphrase television’s Masterchef, cooking really does not get easier than this.

Rowley Leigh is the chef at Le Café Anglais
rowley.leigh@ft.com
More columns at www.ft.com/leigh

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John Dory with leeks and clams

The John Dory has firm flesh that will stand up to simple oven roasting.

Ingredients
4 small John Dory, weighing 400g500g each
4 small leeks
1 glass dry white wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
750g small clams or cockles or mussels
2 tomatoes
8 leaves basil

Method
● Remove the heads and fins from the fish. Rinse out the cavities and season well with sea salt and pepper. Slice the leeks finely and place in a large ovenproof dish or tray. Season with salt and pepper before putting the fish on top. Pour the white wine and then the olive oil over the fish and place in a very hot oven (250°C) for 810 minutes. The fish should be slightly undercooked. Test it by pushing gently on the spine: the meat should be reluctant to move off the bone.
● Rinse the clams very well, rejecting any broken or open shells. Peel the tomatoes (by dropping into boiling water for 15 seconds and then refreshing in cold water), remove the pulp and chop into small dice. Distribute clams and tomatoes over the fish and put back in the oven for five minutes or until the clams have just opened. Shred the basil leaves very finely and sprinkle over the ensemble. Serve with a bowl of boiled potatoes.