Sole Meuniere - Classic French Meal

A fancy name for a simple-to-prepare fish dish. With prep before cooking, you too can enjoy this classic French fish dish. The sole melts in your mouth and does not taste "fishy" at all. Enjoy

Sole Meuniere
What You Will Need

6 sole fillets (skinned) (about one pound fresh fish.)
1 cup flour
6 Tbs unsalted butter
6 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (plus 1 lemon cut into wedges for serving)
2 Tbs fresh parsley (minced)
salt and white pepper to taste

In a shallow dish combine flour and 1 Tbs salt and 1/2 tsp white pepper. Dredge each fillet in the flour mixture on both sides.

Heat a large skillet on medium high heat add 2 tsp butter with 2 tsp oil. When butter foams, shake excess flour from fillets and cook until golden brown about 1 minute, flip and cook the other side for a couple minutes until cooked through. (next step optional)Wipe the pan out and repeat process until all of the fillets are cooked.

(optional)Clean pan one more time and make sauce. Melt the remaining 4 Tbs butter over medium heat, add lemon juice and swirl the mixture in the pan. Pour over warm fillets, sprinkle with parsley and serve with extra lemons.

adapted from Williams-Sonoma Fish cookbook

Hints: If you are not fussy for a very white sauce, you can skip the pan-wiping steps. I actually enjoyed the little brownish look after cooking the fish in the pan and then continued to make the quick sauce in the same pan. Very tasty.

I also think the next time I prepare this Sole dish, I will cut back on the amount of butter during cooking process. A little unsalted butter is delicious, but a lot is not healthy, I feel.

Fresh Fish - Don't be afraid to cook it.

It is important to buy fresh fish from a reputable supermarket or specialty fish market. That said, fresh fish does not smell "fishy". Simple as that. My favorite kinds of fish to bake are halibut, haddock, sole and salmon (sockeye, preferred).

Prep: Purchase your fresh fish and unwrapp keeping on ice in a dish in the refrigerator until ready to cook. At cooking time, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. with rack in the middle of the oven. In a baking dish, spray with a cooking oil and then put the washed/dried piece of fish into the baking dish. Have some olive oil, butter and optional Panko Bread Crumbs to put on top of your fish. Seasonings: Kosher salt, crushed pepper, parsley or dill. Be sure to have an oven mitt ready as well as a large spatula for serving.

Baking: Fish cooks quickly at high heat. Therefore, allow at least 15 minutes until fish looks firm and flakey. Do not over cook the fish. You might see some whitish protein form on/around the cooking fish. This means it is just about cooked. A firmer fish like halibut will turn a nice white color and brown a bit on top.

Serving: Serve right from your baking dish onto a plate. Think about preparing some fresh, steamed veggies as a sidedish and/or a carb of your choice. Please check out my recipes for Couscous and Quinoa. A baked potato works well, also. This is a very healthy meal.

Enjoy.