James Beard's New Fish Cookery - James Beard [80]
VARIATION
Instead of the tomato sauce, garnish the fillets with sautéed mushroom caps and serve with a Hollandaise sauce (pages 25–26).
FILLETS À LA CECILY
6 fillets of sole
1 cup sauce duxelles (page 28)
Flour
1 egg
Bread crumbs
Butter or oil
2 cups cooked, buttered spinach
Grated Parmesan cheese
Beurre noisette (page 31)
Lemon slices
Choose long fillets for this dish. Spread each one well with the duxelles and fold over once. Dip in flour, beaten egg, and crumbs, and sauté in butter or oil according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 10). Arrange the fillets on a bed of cooked, buttered spinach, sprinkle with grated cheese, and run under the broiler for a minute to brown on top. Serve with beurre noisette poured over the fish and a garnish of lemon slices.
SOLE GAVARNI
5 or 6 green and red peppers
Olive oil
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic
4 tablespoons butter
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 fillets of sole
Flour
6 tablespoons butter
Cut the peppers into thin strips and sauté in olive oil until just soft. In another pan, sauté the mushrooms and garlic in butter; salt and pepper to taste. Dredge the fillets in flour and sauté in butter according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 10). When the fish is cooked, serve it on a bed of the mushrooms topped with the sautéed peppers.
SOLE À L’INDIENNE
1 onion, chopped
Butter or oil
1 cup rice
1 tablespoon curry powder
Broth
4 fillets cut in small pieces
Flour
6 tablespoons olive oil
Curry sauce (pages 22, 29)
Sauté the onion in butter or oil until tender, add the rice, and brown quickly. Add the curry powder and enough boiling broth (or water) to rise 1 inch above the rice. Bake in a 350° oven until the rice is tender and the liquid absorbed, adding more liquid if it cooks away too quickly.
Dredge the fillets with flour and sauté them in olive oil until nicely browned and just cooked through.
Prepare a curry sauce with 11/2 cups of sauce béchamel flavored to taste with curry powder. Unmold the rice, arrange the sole around it, and cover with the curry sauce.
Thin French-fried onions are excellent with this dish.
SOLE À LA PIEMONTESE
4 cups water
1 cup corn meal
11/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons grated cheese
2 cups cooked chopped spinach
1 teaspoon tarragon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 fillets of sole
Flour
6 tablespoons butter or oil
Parsley
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup tomato paste
Prepare a polenta by bringing to a boil 3 cups of water and stir in the corn meal and 1 teaspoon of the salt, which has been mixed with 1 cup of cold water. Stir until thickened, add the butter and cheese and let it cook over hot water for 11/2 hours.
Cook the spinach; chop and season it with tarragon, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the lemon juice.
Flour the fillets and sauté them in butter or oil according to the Canadian cooking theory (page 10). Pour the polenta on the bottom of an oval serving dish, top with the spinach, and cover with the fillets. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Make a sauce by adding the wine and tomato paste to the pan juices, blending them well. Pour this over the fish.
FILLETS WITH PILAF, ITALIAN
6 large fillets of sole
Flour
Rice pilaf or rice ring
6 tomatoes
6 zucchini or summer squash
18 mushroom caps
Butter
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Tartar sauce (pages 35–36)
Cut the fillets into small julienne strips and roll in flour.
Prepare a rice pilaf or rice ring according to your own recipe. Sauté the vegetables in butter until they are nicely browned and just cooked through. Salt and pepper to taste. Sauté the sole strips very quickly in butter and season to taste.
Set the pilaf or ring in the center of a platter, decorate it with the strips of fish and surround it with the sautéed vegetables. Serve with a tartar sauce.
VARIATION
Mix a great quantity of chopped parsley and