James Beard's New Fish Cookery - James Beard [79]
Any of these recipes will fit any type of flounder and will be just as appropriate to the true Channel or Dover sole. It is difficult to tell you just how much to buy since fillets vary so much in size, as does the whole fish. If you figure on about a half pound per person, you will always have plenty. Some people contend that a pound of fish will serve three, but I find this skimpy. In the following recipes for fillets. I have counted on one large fillet per person.
GRILLED SOLE
This, naturally, is the simplest way to prepare a whole sole or fillets. A charcoal fire is perfection, but gas or electricity does nearly as well. Give it a good bath of melted butter or oil. Broil about 3 inches from the flame according to the Canadian cooking theory (pages 9–10). Baste it with butter or oil while it is cooking. Salt and pepper before removing from the grill.
Serve the broiled sole with some of the pan drippings, or with lemon or lemon butter. If you prefer a sauce, serve Hollandaise (pages 25–26), Béarnaise (page 26), tomato (page 23), or mustard (page 23). Anchovy butter (page 32), parsley butter (page 33), and caviar butter (page 32) are also all excellent with the grilled fillets.
If you want to save yourself the work of cleaning a broiling pan, line it with metal foil before you put in your fish.
VARIATIONS
1. Cook the grilled fish in the oven at 425° according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 8). Then brush it with butter and crumbs and run under the broiler to brown nicely.
2. Serve the grilled sole with steamed clams and mussels.
SAUTÉED SOLE
When you sauté either the whole fish or the fillets, you have a choice of many interesting ways to garnish and sauce the fish.
SOLE MEUNIÉRE
Dredge the fish or fillets well with flour. Sauté quickly in butter or oil according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 10). Turn once during the cooking process and salt and pepper to taste. Remove to a hot platter; add the butter from the pan and a goodly sprinkling of lemon juice and chopped parsley. This simple method of preparation seems to bring out the true flavor of the fish about as well as any other way.
VARIATIONS
1. After dishing onto the hot platter, sauce with some beurre noisette (page 31) and garnish with lemon slices.
2. Add anchovy butter and lemon and garnish with strips of anchovy.
3. Peel, seed, and chop 1/2 pound very ripe tomatoes. Let them cook down in 4 tablespoons butter until they are a paste. Season with a little grated garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and 11/2 tablespoons curry powder. Add 1/2 cup white wine and allow the mixture to simmer for 1/2 hour. Pour over the sautéed sole.
4. Sauté slices of eggplant or summer squash until golden brown. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place sautéed sole on these slices, surround with freshly steamed rice, and serve with a tomato sauce (page 23).
SOLE À LA TSAROVITZ
3 cups mashed potatoes
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon each of chopped parsley, chives, chervil
Salt
6 tablespoons butter
4 large fillets of sole
SAUCE
1 tablespoon chopped shallot or green onion
1/2 cup white wine or dry vermouth
1/2 cup tomato paste
Beurre manié (page 475)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Combine the potatoes with the egg yolks and the seasonings. Beat them well, form into thin flat cakes, and cook them in butter on a griddle or in a frying pan until they are nicely browned on both sides. Sauté the fillets as in the preceding recipe. Top the potato cakes with the sautéed fish and serve with the sauce.
Sauce. Add the shallot to the pan in which the fish was sautéed and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the white wine, swirl it around a bit, then add the