Sole a La Meuniere
- 1 whole dover sole (1 to 1 1/2 pounds), trimmed and skinned
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- 3 tablespoons clarified butter (page 88)
- 1/2 cup wondra or all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 lemon, halved
- Dredge Season both sides of fish with salt and pepper while heating the clarified butter in a copper oval saute pan (or a large saute pan) over medium heat.
- Pour flour onto a large shallow dish and press both sides of the fish into the flour, making sure it is fully coated.
- Shake off any excess flour.
- Saute Set the fish skin side up in the pan and saute until golden brown underneath, about 4 minutes.
- Use a fish spatula (or two large, wide spatulas) to carefully flip the fish and saute until the skin side is golden brown and cooked throughout (the flesh should flake with a fork and the thickest part of the fish should be opaque), about 3 minutes more.
- Make sauce Drop the butter pieces into the hot pan, around the fish, and let it melt.
- Sprinkle parsley over fish.
- When butter is frothy, squeeze the lemon over it (so the juice runs into the butter) and immediately spoon this over the fish.
- (Alternatively, transfer fish to a platter and sprinkle with parsley before adding butter and lemon juice to the pan, swirling to combine.)
- Serve Fillet fish and parcel portions onto plates, then spoon some more of the sauce on top, and serve.
- This recipe calls for removing the skin from one side only.
- Begin by snipping off the fins (see page 120).
- Next, make a small incision in the skin just above the tail.
- Hold the skin at the incision and then carefully peel back a small portion to make a flap.
- Holding the flap firmly in one hand and the tail firmly in the other, quickly pull the skin back toward the head to remove skin in one piece.
- True Dover sole, which comes only from the waters of the Atlantic off the Dover coast of England, is difficult to find in the United States and fairly expensive.
- Gray sole and petrale sole (both of which are actually types of flounder), are perfectly fine.
- If youd rather not trim the fish yourself, ask your fishmonger to do this.
- Because clarified butter (page 88) has a higher smoke point than regular butter, it is the cooking fat of choice for sauteing delicate fish such as sole.
- Wondra is a low-protein flour that has been processed so it dissolves instantly.
- (It is often called instant flour for this reason.)
- Since it is less likely to clump than all-purpose flours, it has long been a favorite among chefs for the ultralight coating it gives sauteed fish.
salt, clarified butter, wondra, unsalted butter, parsley, lemon
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sole-a-la-meuniere-393938 (may not work)