Fillets Of Sole Thermidor Recipes

SOLE THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Brush fillets with melted butter; sprinkle with seasoned salt and pepper. Starting with a short side, roll up. Place seam side down in a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Pour 1/2 cup milk over fillets. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork., Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add remaining milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Reduce heat; stir in the cheese, sherry and tarragon., Drain pan juices from fish, reserving 1/4 cup; stir into cheese mixture. Pour over fish; sprinkle with paprika. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned.

FILLETS OF SOLE THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 TBL butter (or margarine), salt, seasoned salt and pepper; use to brush fillets on both sides. Roll up each fillet from a narrow edge and place, seam side down, in a 9"x9" baking pan. Pour 1/2 cup milk over fillets and bake 25 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.
• Meanwhile, in same saucepan over medium heat, melt remaining butter and stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in remaining 3/4 cup milk and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened. Reduce heat and stir in cheese until melted; stir in sherry.
• When fish is done, remove from oven and preheat broiler. Pour pan liquid off, reserving 1/4 cup; stir into cheese sauce. (If not using sherry, use 3 TBL more of pan liquid.) Pour sauce over fish; sprinkle with paprika. Broil about 1 minute or until sauce is slightly golden.
• *You may also use 16 ounces of frozen sole fillets, thawed. Arrange fillets in 12" x 8" baking pan (do not roll); proceed as above.

EASY SOLE MEUNIERE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Have 2 heat-proof dinner plates ready
• Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large shallow plate. Pat the sole fillets dry with paper towels and sprinkle one side with salt.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan over medium heat until it starts to brown. Dredge 2 sole fillets in the seasoned flour on both sides and place them in the hot butter. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 2 minutes. Turn carefully with a metal spatula and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. While the second side cooks, add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to the pan. Carefully put the fish filets on the ovenproof plates and pour the sauce over them. Keep the cooked fillets warm in the oven while you repeat the process with the remaining 2 fillets. When they're done, add the cooked fillets to the plates in the oven. Sprinkle with the parsley, salt, and pepper and serve immediately.

SOLE THERMIDOR

Steps:

• Trim fish fillets and poach in two cups of the court bouillon.
• Lift carefully onto a hot baking platter.
• Combine the flour and melted butter; add the court bouillon in which the fish was poached.
• Cook for three minutes; remove from heat.
• Add seasonings, cream, brandy and 2 tablespoons of the cheese (do not cook).
• Pour sauce over the fish, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and place under broiler to brown.

FILLETS OF SOLE IN HERBED BUTTER

Steps:

• To make herb butter combine your choice of seasoning with soft butter and let stand for a few minutes.
• In one or two large skillets melt as much of the butter as you wish until it sizzles. Quickly saute the fillets for a minute or two one each side.
• Season with salt and pepper if desired.

FILLET OF SOLE MEUNIèRE

Steps:

• Put the flour in a shallow dish. Season the fish with salt to taste. Dredge the fillets lightly in the flour, shaking off any excess.
• Heat 2 large nonstick sauté pans over medium heat. When the pans are hot, spray them generously with cooking spray, and add 2 fillets to each pan. Cook until the fish is golden brown and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a serving platter; tent it with foil to keep the fish warm.
• Raise the heat under the sauté pans to high. Add the spinach to one sauté pan, and wipe the other one out with a paper towel. Season the spinach with salt, and cook, stirring often, until the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes. Spoon the spinach next to the sole on the platter.
• While the spinach is cooking, when the other pan is very hot, add the butter to it. Cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until it is has browned and smells nutty, about 3 minutes.
• While the butter is browning, place the cornstarch in a small bowl, and whisk in the lemon juice and chicken broth. When the butter is ready, whisk the chicken broth mixture into the pan. Simmer the sauce, stirring constantly, until it has thickened, about 2 minutes.
• Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste; stir in the parsley. Pour the sauce over the fish, and serve.
• Fat: 44.8g (before), 10.7g (after)
• Calories: 640 (before), 259 (after)
• Protein: 26g
• Carbohydrates: 16g
• Cholesterol: 78mg
• Fiber: 4g
• Sodium: 512mg

BREADED FILLETS OF SOLE

Steps:

• Put the fillets on a flat surface. There may be a small bone line running partly down the center of each fillet. If so, cut on both sides and discard it.
• Beat the egg, salt, pepper, water and one tablespoon of oil in a flat dish.
• Put the flour in a flat dish and toss the fillets in it. Shake off excess.
• Put bread crumbs in a flat dish.
• Dip the floured fillets, one at a time, in the egg mixture to coat well. Dip them on both sides in the bread crumbs and pat lightly to make the crumbs adhere.
• Heat the remaining one-third cup of oil in a heavy skillet and add enough breaded fillets to make one layer without crowding. Cook until golden brown on one side, about one and one-half to two minutes. Turn and cook about one and one-half minutes on the second side. The cooking times will depend on the thickness of the fish. It may be necessary to add more oil if it disappears. As the fillets are cooked transfer them to a warm serving platter. Continue cooking until all the fillets are done.
• Pour off the oil from the skillet and wipe it out with paper towels.
• Put the butter in the skillet and swirl it around over high heat until it starts to foam. Continue cooking until it starts to become hazelnut brown. Pour this over the fish. Sprinkle the fish with the lemon juice and serve.

CHEF JOHN'S CRAB-STUFFED SOLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly oil a baking dish.
• Combine crab, poblano pepper, panko bread crumbs, green onion, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper together in a bowl.
• Stir mayonnaise, lemon zest, and cayenne pepper together in a bowl.
• Place sole fillets, flat-side up, on a work surface. Season fillets with salt. Divide crab mixture between fillets and roll filets up around filling. Place rolled sole in the prepared baking dish.
• Spread 1/2 the mayonnaise mixture over the sides and tops of each sole roll to coat. Place remaining 1/2 the mayonnaise mixture in a piping bag. Pipe mayonnaise mixture in a zigzag pattern over the top of each roll and sprinkle paprika over the top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned on top and fish flakes easily with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes.

HOW TO MAKE SOLE MEUNIèRE

Steps:

• The French excel at exquisitely wrought and technically challenging fish dishes, like bouillabaisse and lobster Thermidor. However, they are just as enamored of simpler recipes that focus on preserving the pristine beauty of their seafood. Sole meunière is a perfect example. To prepare it, sole, a succulent, flat white fish, is pan-fried in butter until crisp-edged and tender, then served with brown butter pan sauce, a sprinkling of parsley and a wedge of lemon. (The term meunière means in the style of the miller's wife, and refers to the flour in which the fish is dredged before frying.) Except for the browning of the butter, the ingredients are kept in their most elemental form. Yet together they create a dish of incomparable harmony and depth. In its most traditional presentation, sole meunière is made with the whole fish, then filleted tableside. You can still find it served that way at old-school French restaurants all over the world. But for the most part, home cooks use sole fillets, which makes the process faster and easier - and only slightly less flavorful and juicy than when the fish is cooked on the bone. Unlike a lot of classic French cuisine, sole meunière requires almost no advance preparation and very little time at the stove. It is one of the quickest ways to get to dinner, and you probably already have flour, salt, pepper, butter and lemon on hand. All you need is a beautiful piece of fish. That fish does not have be Dover sole, especially given that in recent years, its sustainability has become an issue (not to mention the fact that it is very expensive). Other flat, white, flaky fish will cook up nearly as well, and will taste delightful when pan-fried and smothered in brown butter. After all, there are very few things that wouldn't.
• With over 100 cataloged preparations, sole is one of the most esteemed fish in French cuisine, and sole meunière is the signature dish. It is the plainness of the recipe that makes it seem at once universal and utterly French. Almost all coastal cultures have some version of lightly fried fish, but only in France is it smothered in brown butter. Little is known about how sole meunière came to be, though we do know that for at least the past century it's been a specialty of Normandy. "Le Guide Culinaire," by Auguste Escoffier, which was first published in 1903, lists several variations of the dish, including sole meunière with eggplant, with grapes, with cucumbers and with various kinds of mushrooms. However, it is likely that the dish is much older, since it is so very basic. Sole meunière has long been an extravagance, a costly fixture on the menus of many fine French restaurants. That is because it is traditionally made with Dover sole, a flat fish with delicate and buttery white meat, which separates easily from the bones. It is that combination of simplicity and luxury that makes it compelling. Elaborate adornments are not necessary, as was made clear in an edition of "Larousse Gastronomique" from the early 20th century: "Sometimes the serving of fish cooked à la meunière is decorated with slices, or half-slices, of lemon, rounds of radish, cutout pieces of beetroot and sprigs of parsley. This kind of ornament is quite useless and not at all in keeping with the recipe." Today most French cooks would agree that you need nothing more on top of your buttery sole than a lemon wedge and a hint of parsley. That is the easiest lesson you can learn from French cooking: When you have perfect ingredients, less is more. Above, "Pleuronectes Solea, the Sole."
• Skillet Use a 12-inch skillet, which should be large enough to fit the length of your fish. A heavy-duty nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron pan will help keep the fillets from sticking, making them easier to flip and keep whole. But a stainless steel pan is fine if you're careful when flipping.Spatula A tapered fish spatula makes flipping delicate fillets a bit easier, but any spatula will work.Wirecutter, a product recommendations website owned by The New York Times Company, has a guide to the best nonstick pans and spatulas.
• Sole meunière highlights the simple flavors of fresh fish, butter, lemon and parsley. Fish is the center of the dish, so using a quality fillet is important. The fish is pan-fried in clarified butter, which can take on heat without browning; a recipe is below.
• Clear, golden clarified butter can withstand heat without burning for a longer period and at a higher temperature, making it ideal for pan-frying. When you make it, you are essentially removing the water content and white milk solids from the butter. The process is simple and takes just a few minutes.
• Sole meunière is the kind of recipe that moves quickly once you start cooking, so it's best to give it your full attention. Have the ingredients ready before you begin.• Use good butter: European-style butter with a high fat content (at least 82 percent) works best here because it contains less moisture than regular butter. • If you don't want to clarify your butter, use a combination of oil and regular butter instead. You will end up with a more neutral and less buttery flavor, but the recipe will still work. (If you decide not to clarify, then it is especially important to use that high-fat, European-style butter.) Or you could use ghee, which is basically clarified butter in which the milk solids have been allowed to brown before being removed. It has a lightly caramelized, nutty flavor. • Patting the fish dry before dredging helps the flour cling evenly to the fillet, rather than clump in the damp spots. • Season the fish itself rather than seasoning the flour. This gives you more precision and control over the seasoning.• In a classic sole meunière, white pepper is used partly for aesthetics. If you want to use black pepper, that's fine. • Keep an eye on the fish: When it has finishing cooking, it should be opaque, tender and not too firm. Plunge your fork into the thickest part of the fillet. There should be no resistance. That's how you will know it's done. • Set your oven to its lowest temperature, and use it to keep the first round of fish warm. This is an easy way to make sure dinner comes to the table at the right temperature. Placing the just-cooked fish on a warm plate before it goes into the oven helps, too.
• Sole meunière is the most basic of dishes to prepare, which makes it easy to swap the fish or augment the seasonings to suit your taste. You don't need Dover sole to make this dish delectable. Instead, look for local, sustainable, flaky, mild white-fleshed fillets with a mild flavor. Other varieties of sole (including winter sole and lemon sole), halibut and flounder will work well. Or try scrod, cod, hake, trout, salmon, bass, swordfish, sardines or blackfish. Add a pinch or two of minced sturdy herbs like rosemary, thyme or savory, or ground spices such as cumin, coriander, paprika or curry powder, to the brown butter as it's simmering. If you want to make the dish more substantial, add cooked vegetables to the pan with the butter. Diced sautéed cucumber, shallot or onion, wilted spinach, grated zucchini, cubed eggplant or mushrooms would all do nicely. For a slightly more elaborate garnish that won't overwhelm the flavors of the dish, substitute other soft, leafy herbs for the parsley. Basil, tarragon, coriander and chives are good candidates. Other citrus, such as Meyer lemon, lime, grapefruit or sour orange wedges, can stand in for the usual lemon.
• Photography Food styling: Alison Attenborough. Prop styling: Beverley Hyde. Additional photography: Karsten Moran for The New York Times. Additional styling: Jade Zimmerman. Video Food styling: Chris Barsch and Jade Zimmerman. Art direction: Alex Brannian. Prop styling: Catherine Pearson. Director of photography: James Herron. Camera operators: Tim Wu and Zack Sainz. Editing: Will Lloyd and Adam Saewitz. Additional editing: Meg Felling.
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