My DH requested some fish for dinner the other night. We had some in our freezer, some we’d purchased recently from a home-delivery meat company. I’m usually skeptical about frozen fish, always preferring to buy fresh, but this fish looked so good and everything else we’ve had from this company has been exceptionally good (premium price, too, of course). We were not disappointed.
I needed to prepare the sole in some special way, so I looked through oodles of recipes before deciding to try a Julia Child French method. From her book From Julia Child’s Kitchen. What I will tell you first off is that this requires more than a moderate amount of food prep – more than usual – and I don’t usually shirk from kitchen detail. It also dirties a whole bunch of dishes. And I decided to get everything in place first (that’s called mis en place) since I could tell by reading the recipe that everything kind of comes together at the end and I needed to be ready, not off at the chopping board mincing something. So here’s what I did:
On the left is the ALMOND FLAVORING/SAUCE: clockwise from the left at 8:00, minced shallots, butter, almond meal, flake salt, ground white pepper and fresh lemon. On the right the FINISHING SAUCE from 8:00, minced shallot, all-purpose flour, heavy cream, fish stock, white wine, butter, toasted sliced almonds, and minced parsley.
So, you get my drift – there’s a bit of food prep here. I should have added more lemon juice over on the right combination, too. I suggest you get out the dish you want to use, have the waxed paper buttered and sized to fit the pan, have the oven preheated (and your second oven – if you have one – heated at 200 to keep the fish and serving plates warm later on), and get all of the above ready. AND, I’ll also suggest you have all the rest of your dinner ready to go too, as you’ll have no time to do that once the fish comes out of the oven. I asked Dave to help me at the end because our vegetable needed reheating in the microwave (cauliflower prepared like mashed potatoes that I had made half an hour before), and I had an avocado ready to slice for our salad. He did those things while I whisked, stirred, poured, thinned and garnished.
So, how was it? Fabulous. Dave mmmm-d all through dinner. A good sign. I savored every bite, but then with all the butter in it, how could it not be good? (Actually, I have reduced the amount of butter in this recipe because the sauce could not hold the amount called for.) The only thing I’d change is to pulse the almonds myself next time, rather than use almond meal. I think the almond meal is too finely ground for this. Once I made the finishing sauce it was too thick. I really didn’t want to add more cream (it already had enough fat in the sauce already – so I added bit more lemon juice). But in the big picture, it didn’t matter – it was good even if it was too thick! Will I make it again? I might. Perhaps not for guests only because it’s such concentrated cooking at the end. I think it’s hard to make this kind of dish for guests when you need to be on top of everything at the last minute.
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Filet of Sole with White Wine and Almond Butter
Recipe By: Adapted from the cookbook: From Julia Child’s Kitchen
Serving Size: 4
ALMOND FLAVORING:
1/2 cup sliced almonds — (reserve a few for garnish)
2 tablespoons shallots — peeled, minced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup ground almonds — (I used almond meal)
salt and white pepper to taste
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice — (an approximation)
FISH & SAUCE:
1 3/4 pounds sole fillets
1 tablespoon shallots — minced
1/2 cup white wine — dry rather than sweet, if possible
1/2 cup fish stock — (or clam juice)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons butter — softened
1/2 cup heavy cream — or more if needed
4 sprigs Italian parsley
1. ALMOND SAUCE: Preheat oven to 350. Spread almonds on a cookie sheet and bake the almonds for about 8-10 minutes until they’re toasty brown. Watch carefully so they don’t burn. Cool and set aside.
2. Using 2 tablespoons of the butter, melt it in a medium saucepan and saute the shallots for just a couple of minutes. (Note: remove 2 T. of raw shallots to use on top of the fish). Remove the shallots from the heat and add the almond meal (ground almonds – you can whiz whole or sliced almonds in a blender or food processor) and the remaining butter. Season to taste with salt, white pepper and lemon juice. Pour this mixture into a small bowl and set aside. You may use this pan later.
3. FISH: Season the milky side (whiter side) of the fish fillets with salt and pepper. Spread about a teaspoon of the almond flavoring/sauce mixture on top of each fillet (the remaining almond sauce goes into the finishing sauce). If you have extra-thin (real) sole fillets, fold the fillets end to end (to make a thicker piece of fish).
4. Arrange the fish fillets in an ovenproof casserole, slightly overlapping the thinner edges. Sprinkle with the reserved raw shallots, and dust lightly with salt and pepper.
5. In a small saucepan bring the wine and fish stock to a boil. Pour the liquid around the fish fillets and cover the dish with a heavily buttered piece of waxed paper.
6. Bake the fish for 8-10 minutes until the fish is just squishy to the touch (i.e., not overcooked). Remove fish from oven and using a spatula to hold the fish in place, pour the juices into the medium saucepan (used in step 2 above). Place the fish in a warm place still covered with the waxed paper (do not put back in the hot oven.) Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce liquid to about 1/2 cup (about half of the total liquid you start with).
7. In a small bowl mix the soft butter and flour together (this makes a beurre manie). Stirring constantly with a whisk, add this butter mixture in small pieces to the boiling liquid. It will thicken rapidly. Reduce heat as necessary. When it’s thoroughly blended in, add the cream – the sauce should be thin enough to coat a spoon. If it’s thicker than that, add more cream and/or fish stock to thin it out. Season with salt and pepper if needed (taste it!) and more drops of lemon juice. Add the almond slices. If there is any additional liquid in the fish baking dish add it to the sauce. Fold in the almond flavoring sauce and heat until it’s hot. Place fish fillets on a pre-heated plate and pour over the fish and garnish with parsley and the reserved sliced, toasted almonds. Serve immediately. Fish cools quickly so do serve it immediately.
Per Serving: 699 Calories; 48g Fat (62.5% calories from fat); 49g Protein; 16g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 181mg Cholesterol; 287mg Sodium.
A year ago: About Penzey’s, the herb store (also online)
Two years ago: Crunchy Shrimp on Couscous with Sauce (a real winner, a favorite)
Heide M
said on February 13th, 2010:
The dish sounds elegant and yet you make it easy. Thanks for posting it.
Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it easy, but as long as you don’t mind doing all the steps to get there, it was delicious. And nothing was difficult – – just time consuming . . . carolyn t