Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [184]
At present prices, a 500 g (1 lb) sole has to do for two people. For a meal which may have several courses, this is not unreasonable. Better to eat a small amount of something delicious (and fill the corners up with some good bread) than a lot of something mediocre. Ask the fishmonger to skin it for you, and grab the skin before he throws it into the waste bucket; this will give you the opportunity of asking him for the bones and skin of other flatfish which he has filletted already, so that you have the all-important basic material for fish stock for the sauce.
If you have to skin the fish yourself, or produce fillets, see the instructions on p. 4.
FILETS DE SOLE À LA NORMANDE
If a dish requires extra time and attention, a cookery writer is supposed to be apologetic. I fail to see why. People spend hours developing photographs in a dark room, or watching birds. Why shouldn’t a cook be allowed to enjoy an hour or two with an interesting occupation? Sole normande is certainly that. Purists may complain that it can only taste as it should in Normandy (on account of the butter and cream there, which differ from ours in texture and flavour). In fact the dish was probably invented in Paris by Carême – not by a fisherman stirring his iron pot over a driftwood fire in a smoky cabin. Of course nowadays the dish in one form or another is on the menu of most self-respecting Normandy restaurants – a tribute to modern communications and cross-fertilization rather than to authenticity.
Serves 6
fillets of 3 large sole or 1½ kg (3 lb) brill or turbot fillets
salt, pepper
125 g (4 oz) unsalted butter
150 ml (5 fl oz) dry white wine or cider
36 mussels or oysters
24 button mushrooms
1 tablespoon lemon juice
450 ml (15 fl oz) velouté sauce*
125 ml (4 fl oz) crème fraîche or double cream
4 egg yolks
Grease a heatproof dish with butter paper, put in the fish fillets in a single layer and season them. Dot them with 15 g (½ oz) butter and pour on the wine or cider. Open the mussels, if used, over a high heat, as briefly as possible (see p. 239). Discard the shells and strain the liquor through a cloth over the fillets. With oysters, open them and simmer them briefly in their liquor; strain the liquor over the fillets. Keep the mussels or oysters warm. Either simmer the fish on top of the stove for 3–4 minutes or in a hot oven at gas 6, 200°C (400°F) until it is half-cooked.
Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms in 45 g (1½ oz) butter with the lemon juice and seasoning. Strain the liquor into the velouté sauce. Keep the mushrooms warm. Pour off the liquor from the fish into the sauce and reduce this sauce back to its original volume.
Arrange the fish on a warm, heatproof serving dish and surround it with a border of the mussels or oysters and mushrooms. Put butter papers or greaseproof paper over the top and leave it to keep warm in a low oven. It will continue to cook gently. Preheat the grill to its maximum temperature. Bring the crème fraîche just to the boil, if using it.
To complete the sauce, beat the egg yolks with half the crème fraîche or cream, add some of the sauce and then stir the cream mixture into the pan. Keep stirring while the sauce thickens over a low heat, without letting the sauce boil. Stir in the rest of the crème fraîche or cream to taste and then – off the heat – the last of the butter, cut into cubes. Check seasoning.
Spoon some of the sauce carefully over the fish, inside the border of shellfish and mushrooms. Put the serving dish under the grill for a few moments to glaze (don’t brown it). Serve the rest of the sauce in a separate jug.
VARIATION Soles à la Dieppoise: Substitute 250 g (8 oz) shelled, cooked prawns or langoustines for the mushrooms. Heat through in butter. Make stock from the shells and add to the sauce. Scatter with chopped parsley