Sole Meuniére

A French classic made famous by Julia Child, à la meunière is a type of dish that is typically done with fish—sole and sometimes trout. In either case, the dish is meant to be a lemon butter sauce topping a thin, flaky white fish. A smattering of parsley finishes it off, although some add capers. This, I think, makes the recipe more like the fish version of chicken piccata. But, that’s just me.

After liberally salting the fish and dredging it in flour, sauté the filets in butter. This should only take a few minutes. Set the filets aside, keeping them warm by tenting the plate with a little foil or popping them in a warm oven. Add more butter to the pan then the lemon and zest.

Note: here’s where I think I went wrong with the recipe. Adding the lemon was fine; it just turned out to be too much of a good thing. The sauce was way too tangy for my taste. I grabbed a large lemon and should have used half of it or a smaller one. Having the citrus is a nice foil to the fattiness of the butter, however.

Here’s the recipe:

4 Dover sole filets, patted dry

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

⅓ c. all purpose flour

1 stick of butter, halved

¼ c. chopped parsley

1 lemon, juiced and zested

Pat fish filets dry. Salt and pepper to taste. Dredge in flour. Get your pan hot to melt butter then turn down to medium. Sauté fish until done, about 4 minutes. Set aside. Deglaze pan with juice and zest. Add the rest of the butter. Whisk until smooth and butter is incorporated. Spoon sauce over fish and add parsley to garnish.