Pacific petrale sole fillets, quickly sauteed and served with a sauce of white wine, shallots, butter, and herbs.
Raised Catholic, I grew up eating fish every Friday (not just during Lent as the custom goes these days). Often it was just a simple tuna macaroni salad, but we kids were exposed to a variety of fish and seafood on a regular basis.
Thank goodness! We still eat fish almost every Friday (old habits die hard) and are always looking for new ideas to cook with the fresh fish we find at the market.
Here is a recipe for petrale sole (a Pacific flounder) that is served with a quick sauce made with shallots, white wine, and butter. You could use this sauce over any mild fish fillet.
Do you have a preferred way of preparing sole fillets? Or other Lenten dishes? If so, please let us know about it in the comments.
Sautéed Petrale Sole in Herb Butter Sauce Recipe
- Prep time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh petrale sole fillets
- Salt, to taste
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons minced shallots
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons, cut into 4 pieces, cold, unsalted butter
- Fresh thyme leaves (or any fresh herb for flavor)
- Minced fresh chives
- Lemon wedges (use Meyer lemons if available)
Method
1 Pat dry the fillets, lightly salt: Pat the sole fillets dry with paper towels. There is a lot of moisture in Petrale sole, so you might have to pat them dry twice.
Lightly salt the fillets on both sides.
2 Brown the fillets on both sides: Heat oil in a large, stick-free skillet on medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, carefully add the fillets to the pan. Brown the fillets gently on both sides.
Fish is cooked when it flakes easily and is no longer translucent. Sole fillets will cook up very quickly, no more than a few minutes on each side, so don’t walk away from the pan while cooking. Once done, remove the fillets from pan and place on a warm plate.
3 Cook shallots: Add shallots to the pan and sauté until soft.
4 Make sauce: Add white wine to the pan with the shallots to deglaze the pan, and scrape up the browned bits at the bottom of the pan.
Add butter and gently swirl to make a sauce. Add herbs, and squeeze a little lemon juice into the sauce. Spoon over the sole.
Serve immediately.
Adapted from a recipe in a newsletter from Paul Martin’s Bistro.
