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By Root 982 0

or monkfish it will be better than with sea bream or cod. I make it often with fillets of chicken halibut, really fresh inshore fish, which is firm and not as dry as the huge halibut one sees occupying 1½ m (5 feet) of the counter. The recipe is variable – if you have no time to make some fish stock, use light chicken or veal stock. Instead of using parsley, you could flavour the sauce with nutmeg or mace.

Serves 6

1–1½ kg (2–3 lb) fish fillets or steaks

salt, pepper

4 heaped tablespoons finely chopped shallots or onions

250 g (8 oz) mushrooms, thinly sliced

parsley, finely chopped

225 ml (7½ fl oz) dry white wine

225 ml (7½ fl oz) fish stock*

butter

100 ml (3½ fl oz) double cream

lemon quarters

Season the fish with salt and pepper. Put the shallots or onion, mushrooms and some parsley into a buttered ovenproof dish, season, and place the fish fillets on top. Pour on the wine and stock, and dab small amounts of butter over the fish. Bake at gas 5, 190°C (375 °F), for about 20 minutes, but check after 15 minutes – the length of time required will depend on the fish’s texture and the thickness of the pieces. Transfer the cooked fish to a warm serving plate. Pour everything else into a pan, and reduce by hard boiling to a strongly flavoured concentrated sauce. Stir in the cream, and cook again for a few moments. Correct the seasoning, beat in a few tablespoons of butter, and pour over the fish. Sprinkle with parsley, tuck lemon quarters round the edges, and serve.

GRILLED SOLE

Choose fish of about 250–300 g (8–10 oz), and allow one for each person (reflect that you will be saving money on sauce and garnishing). They need to be skinned both sides, the heads left on.

Brush with butter – clarified butter* gives the best results in colour and flavour – and grill for about 5 minutes a side. Time depends, obviously, on the thickness rather than the weight of the fish. Do not salt before grilling, but serve with two or three pats of savoury butter* arranged down the centre of each sole. The usual one is maître d’hôtel* (parsley and lemon), but you might like to try something different for a change. The butter, melting in the heat of the fish, forms a small amount of concentrated sauce which gives all the seasoning required.

Sometimes grilled sole is served with a sauce, a proper sauce with a pronounced flavour.

LEMON OR TORBAY SOLE WITH PARMESAN

This recipe is intended for proper sole, Dover sole, but to me so good a fish is not improved by the strength of Parmesan cheese. I find the method more suitable for the second and third ranks of flatfish, where extra interest is needed to compensate for the fact that they are not Dover sole. The idea is a simple one, and can be adapted to several fish or one or two large ones.

Switch on the grill and leave it to warm up while you cook the fish. Skin and clean them if the fishmonger has not done so already. Flour them lightly and fry in butter on both sides until they are pale golden brown. Pour into the pan enough fish, shellfish or chicken stock to come 5 mm (scant ¼ inch) up the sides of the pan. Complete the cooking at a steady boil, so that the stock reduces a little: do not overcook the fish which should remain slightly pink at the bone.

Scatter the fish with a layer of grated Parmesan cheese, not too thickly. Baste with stock, being careful not to dislodge the cheese. Put under the grill until the cheese melts. Baste again. Put back for the cheese to colour lightly, and baste again. Put back for the cheese to turn an appetizing but pale brown. The basting will have given the cheese a juicy, shiny appearance. There will be little stock left.

PAUPIETTES DE SOLES SOPHIE

The simple method of baking sole in the oven (or poaching it), can be elaborated into the favourite restaurant dish of Paupiettes de soles. Fillets, spread with some delicious mixture, are rolled into a neat shape and cooked in white wine, or wine and stock: the cooking liquor is finally used in the making of a creamy sauce. Although such dishes look