Aishling Moore: This restaurant favourite is deceptively simple to make at home

Aishling Moore: "The fish can be served on or off the bone. I prefer to serve it on the bone for maximum impact when it hits the table." Picture Chani Anderson

This weekend’s Sole meuniere is a true French seafood classic!

The dish typically comprises of dover sole, which has been dredged in seasoned flour, fried in clarified butter and finished with a sauce of brown butter, capers, lemon juice and fresh parsley.

Having Dover sole for supper at home is maybe a once-a-year affair. It’s one of the most expensive fish in the sea, so it’s a real treat and not a dish I would be cooking for a large group.

The fish can be served on or off the bone. I prefer to serve it on the bone for maximum impact when it hits the table.

Here I’ve used one 700g whole dover sole, which is more than enough to serve two, quite generously. Two 300g whole fish would work great too. Here, I have removed the skin and head and trimmed the outer skirt of the fish. You can ask your fishmonger to do this for you; it will take them but a moment.

You could swap the dover for lemon sole or one of my other favourite flat fish; Megrim or serve the caper and brown butter sauce with a lovely fillet of pan-fried hake or pollock.

I have omitted the flour in this recipe, as I prefer to enjoy the fish without any coating. However, If your fearful of the fish sticking to the pan, then a light dusting of flour on the outside provides a great non-stick barrier, just be sure to shake off the excess.

The beurre noisette or brown butter is very simply butter than has been cooked to evaporate the little mount of water present and toast the milk solids until golden or nut brown. 

The briny capers will season the sauce once added to the warm brown butter.

Dover sole with confit potatoes

recipe by:Aishling Moore

Having Dover sole for supper at home is maybe a once-a-year affair. It’s one of the most expensive fish in the sea, so it’s a real treat and not a dish I would be cooking for a large group. The fish can be served on or off the bone. I prefer to serve it o

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 60 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 10 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the Dover sole meuniere:

• 1 x 700g whole Dover sole

• 2tb vegetable oil

• Fine sea salt

• 50g unsalted butter

• 1tbs capers (drained)

• 1 lemon

• 1 tbs flat leaf parsley chopped

• For the confit potatoes:

• 400g baby potatoes

• 250ml golden rapeseed oil

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 1 sprig of rosemary

• Fine sea salt

Method

1. For the confit potatoes:

2. Preheat an oven to 140 degrees Celsius.

3. Slice the potato’s in half lengthways and place in an oven proof dish.

4. Pour the oil over the halved potatoes to submerge. Add the rosemary, garlic and a pinch of sea salt.

5. Place in the preheated oven at 140 degrees Celsius and cook for 15 minutes.

6. Reduce the heat in the oven to 120 degrees Celsius and cook for 25 – 30 minutes until the potatoes are completely tender.

7. For the dover sole:

8. Preheat an oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

9. Place a large frying pan on medium high heat for 2 minutes.

10. Pat the dover sole dry with some kitchen towel to remove any excess moisture and season both sides with fine sea salt. Add the oil and warm before introducing the whole fish.

11. Once in the pan do not disturb the fish . Allow the crust of caramelisation to develop evenly for approximately 2-3 minutes. Using a fish slice confidently lift the fish and cook on the other side for a further 2 -3 minutes.

12. Remove from the pan and place on a tray and pop in the preheated oven to finish cooking. Depending on the size of the fish this will take between 6-8 minutes.

13. Whilst the fish is cooking in the oven remove and discard the oil from the frying pan and return to the heat. Add the butter and cook to caramelise the milk solids in the butter. This will take about four minutes.

14. When the butter is nut brown, drop the heat in the pan to low and add the drained capers and cook for 1 minute. Then add the juice of one lemon and the chopped parsley.

15. Remove the sole from the oven and serve with the caper noisette and warm confit potatoes.

Fishtales

· Remove the fish from the fridge 15 minutes before cooking for more even cooking.

· When adding the sole to pan, lay away from you to avoid oil platters.

· Carbon steel frying pans are my preference for cooking fish. They are excellent conductors of heat and require very little upkeep.

· Preheating your frying pan is the most crucial step in pan frying a piece of fish. The goal is to achieve an even temperature across the full surface area of the pan. Cold pockets will cause your fish to stick.

· For the confit potatoes choose an oven dish that’ll snuggly fit the spuds, so that they will be covered completely in the oil.

· Allow the confit potatoes to cool in the flavoured oil for best results.

· They can made a day ahead and warmed quickly in the oven whilst the fish is finishing cooking.