Fish dinner for a week night:

Set frozen fillets out to thaw in the morning, or hit the fishmonger on the way home from work. We like cod or haddock this way, but it works for any white fish.

Prepare veg -- trim beans, scrape carrots, make salad, or whatever green stuff you have around. Make dressings, or put the pot of water on to boil.

Take a good skillet and heat it well. Put butter in it.

While the butter is melting to a nice, nutty brown co our, drop the cookable veg into the boiling salted water.

Put the fillets in the skillet and grind pepper over them liberally. Turn down the heat under the skillet. Let the fish cook for only a couple of minutes and turn. Cook for a few minutes more on the other side. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice on it and maybe grind some more pepper if you like a lot of pepper.

Check your boiling veg, which should be about ready by now. Strain it and dish it out.

Time to serve the fish -- some on every plate. Distribute the butter-lemon sauce.

Eat immediately. Don't wait even for politeness.