Julia Child’s story of the first meal she ate in France, in the book My Life in France, was so moving it turned Sole Meunier into a dish of romance for us and Steuart has perfected browning the butter, tossing in the chopped parsley and cooling the sauce with a bit of lemon juice.
Kale sauteed with onions and mushrooms, and Julia Child’s steamed carrots accompanied this meal.
Dover sole is about $10 per pound at Whole Foods. When it’s in the store, it’s fresh. You can get it cheaper, but it won’t be as good. Spend more per pound, but buy less. Enjoy more. What we have here is .45 pound of sole. Plenty for two people.
Sole Meuniere
1 Tbls. Olive Oil
1/2 lbs. Sole fillets
1 tsp. flour
dash of salt & pepper
1 Tbls. butter
1/3 c. chopped parsley
1 tsp. lemon juice.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil on medium, then carefully fry sole fillets that have been dredged lightly in flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
Cook 3 minutes, or until fish is slightly firm. It is very easy to over cook the fish. Do yourself a favor and flip it as soon as it is firm enough. Have a glass of wine, sip and check the fish. If it starts to flake as you go to flip, it’s ready.
Flip, cook another few minutes, then remove. Add 1 tbs. butter, melt while scraping the pan.
Let the butter brown. Stainless steel pans are best for this job because they allow you to see the browning.
Add the chopped parsley, cook for a minute and then add the lemon juice, blend and pour the butter, parsely — everything onto the fish filets.
Alternatively, you can melt the butter, scraping up all the bits as before, put the chopped parsley on the fish, cool the butter with the lemon juice and pour it over the parsley and fish. The parsley is less covered in butter, and the whole dish is more saucy, but you know what that sauce is … butter. The first method is the way we prefer it. Because it uses less butter and tastes great. I also think this is the better choice if the fish is not filleted. (When would you have this in the U.S.?) But in France, the last time we had Sole Meuniere it was a whole fish.