Pan-fried London sprats and mixed leaf salad

Ingredients

150g/5½oz plain flour
290ml/½ pint Young's Champion brew (or similar ale)
olive oil, for frying and for dressing the salad
450g/1lb London sprats
250g/9oz mixed leaves, such as dandelion, chicory, rocket, frisée, lamb's lettuce
½ lemon, juice only

Method

1. Whisk the flour and beer together in a bowl, but don't over-whisk the mixture; you need to keep the bubbles in the beer.
2. Heat plenty of olive oil in a large frying pan. Dip the sprats in the batter until they are well covered. Make sure the pan is hot, then place the sprats carefully in the pan. Depending on the size of the pan you'll need to do this in two or three batches, so they don't stick together. Fry until golden and just cooked through - these are tiny fish so not much more than a minute on each side is needed.
3. Remove the fish from the pan and drain carefully on kitchen paper. Spread out on a platter and keep warm in a very low oven. You may have to add more oil to the pan as you go along.
4. Dress the salad leaves with a little lemon and olive oil and serve with the sprats.