Halibut Meuniere Or Sole Food

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 MEUNIèRE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200 degrees and place a large oven-safe plate or baking sheet inside.
• Place flour on a large, shallow plate. Season both sides of fish fillets with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge fish in flour, shaking off excess.
• In a 12-inch nonstick or enamel-lined skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons clarified butter until bubbling. Place half of the fish fillets in the pan and cook until just done, 2 to 3 minutes per side, then transfer to the plate or baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Add 2 more tablespoons clarified butter to skillet and heat until bubbling, then cook remaining fillets. Wipe out the skillet.
• Arrange the fish on a warm serving platter. Top with parsley. In reserved skillet, heat remaining 4 tablespoons unsalted butter until bubbling and golden, 1 to 2 minutes, then pour evenly over fillets. Serve immediately, with lemon wedges on the side.

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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HALIBUT MEUNIERE

Steps:

• Pat fish dry, and sprinkle both sides with black peper and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle with flour.
• Melt 1.5 teaspoons butter in a large nonstick skilled over medium heat. Add fish to pan, and cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Carefully turn fish over; cook 4 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from pan; set aside and keep warm.
• Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter to pan, and cook 1 minute or until lightly browned, swirling pan to melt butter evenly and prevent burning. Remove pan from heat; stir in juice. Drizzle juice mixture over fish. Sprinkle fish with remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle with fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

SOLE MEUNIèRE

Steps:

• Season the fish with salt and pepper. Put the flour in a wide shallow dish, then coat the fillets one at a time in the flour, shaking off the excess.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add the vegetable oil; once very hot and shimmering, add the fillets. (You may need to do this in 2 batches.) Cook until golden brown and cooked about two-thirds of the way, 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully flip the fish and cook until just cooked through, about 30 more seconds. Remove the fillets to a serving platter.
• Pour off any remaining oil and wipe out the skillet. Return it to medium-high heat, then add the butter and cook until melted, any foaming subsides and the butter is a deep golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and swirl in the lemon juice and a pinch of salt (it may splatter a bit). Once incorporated, add the parsley and immediately spoon the sauce over the fish. Serve with lemon wedges.

SOLE MEUNIERE

Steps:

• Sole: Heat a saute pan over medium-high. Season both sides of fish with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish. Dredge each fish in flour, turning and pressing lightly to coat. Shake off excess and place on a platter.
• Swirl half of oil and butter in pan and, when foam subsides, place 1 fish in pan, white skin-side down. Saute until browned on first side, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn fish over carefully and saute until other side is crisp and golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to a serving plate.
• Repeat with remaining oil and butter to saute remaining fish, then transfer it to another plate.
• Beurre noisette: Sprinkle half of parsley on each fish. Heat butter in a medium saucepan over high, swirling to melt. Cook until starting to brown, then remove from heat, and, as butter darkens to a hazelnut color, toss in capers and lemon juice; swirl to combine. Pour beurre noisette over fish and serve.

SOLE MEUNIERE

Steps:

• Put some flour on a large place, add the fish, cover with the flour on both sides and shake off the excess.
• Reserve 2 TBs of the butter. Heat the oil and remaining butter over medium high heat in a nonstick frying pan large enough to hold both fish side by side. When it sizzles, add the sole and cook for about 3 minutes. Turn them over and cook on the other side for 3 minutes. Sprinkle the first side with salt while the second side is cooking.
• When the fish is cooked through, transfer to warmed dinner plates and season the second side.
• Return the frying pan to the heat, add the remaining 2 TBS butter and melt over high heat. When it begins to sizzle, lower the heat and add the lemon juice. Cook, scraping the pan for about 10 seconds; do not let the butter burn. Pour this sauce over the fish and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately with sliced lemon.

SOLE MEUNIèRE

Steps:

• Check the fish for small bones and pull any out with tweezers. In a large shallow bowl, season the flour with a little salt and black pepper. Toss the fish in the flour, coating well, and shake off any excess.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the fish and cook, skin-side down, for 2 mins. Use a fish slice or large spatula to turn, then cook the other side for 1-2 mins until golden.
• Remove the fish to a warmed plate, then season. Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper. Return the pan to the heat, then add the butter. Heat until it melts and begins to turn a light brown, then mix in the lemon juice and capers, if using. Swirl in the pan for a few secs, return fish to the pan and spoon over any juices. Serve immediately.

JULIA'S SOLE MEUNIERE

Steps:

• Season the fish with salt and pepper and turn in flour, shaking off excess.
• -Heat 1 teaspoon butter and 1 teaspoon oil in a pan until the butter foam begins to subside. Lay in the fillets and saute for about a minute on each side, just until the fish begins to take on a light springiness to the touch. -Do not overcook; if the fish flakes, it is overdone.
• -Remove to a hot platter and sprinkle minced fresh parsley over the fish. Rapidly wipe the pan clean with paper towels (so the flour residue will not speckle the butter to come - or use a fresh pan).
• -Heat remaining butter in the pan, swishing it about and letting it brown lightly. Remove the pan from heat, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and capers before spooning the hot butter over the fish.

SOLE MEUNIERE

Steps:

• How to clarify butter: Melt the butter slowly. Let it sit for a bit to separate. Skim off the foam that rises to the top, and gently pour the butter off of the milk solids, which have settled to the bottom. A stick (8 tablespoons) of butter will produce about 6 tablespoons of clarified butter.
• Arrange the fillets in a shallow dish and pour the milk over them. Let soak for at least 5 minute and up to 20 minute Set up your work area so that you can move quickly: position your serving plates or platter, the milk soaking pan, a pile of paper towels, and the seasoned flour on a plate. Have the melted butter in a small, heavy-based saucepan, and the lemon juice and parsley ready for action.
• In one or two large frying pans, heat the clarified butter over medium-high heat until very hot but not quite smoking. Lift a fillet from the milk, blot it on the paper towels, dip it into the flour, and shake off the excess. Carefully lay the fish in the hot fat. Repeat with the other fillets, but don't overcrowd the pan or you'll have trouble flipping. Adjust the temperature to keep the fat sizzling briskly but not burning. Cook the fish until golden on one side, about 2 minute With a slotted spatula, a large spoon, and great care, gently flip the fish.
• When the second side of the fish is golden brown and the flesh is tender when poked with a sharp knife in the thickest part, use the slotted spatula to remove the sole, set it on paper towels to drain briefly, and arrange on the warm platter or plates.
• When all the fillets are cooked, heat the melted whole butter carefully over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter is fragrant and the milk solids turn nutty brown; remove the pan from the heat so the butter doesn't keep cooking, but keep it hot.
• Working fast, pour 1 Tbs. of the lemon juice evenly over each fish and sprinkle on the parsley. Pour about 1-1/2 Tbs. of the hot browned butter on each fish -- if all has gone well, you'll see and hear a delicious sizzle. (If there's no sizzle, it will still taste great.) Serve immediately.