Sole Normande

The Method for Sole Normande

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1. Steam the mussels open in 100 ml of the cider, 4 minutes. Shell them, keeping the liquor, and strain it.

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2. Fry the mushrooms in 20 g butter until dry, 6 minutes. Set aside with the prawns.

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3. Butter a wide pan, scatter in the shallots, lay the salted sole fillets on top and pour over the remaining cider and the mussel liquor. Add the bay.

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4. Cover with buttered paper and poach at a bare shiver 4 minutes, until just set. Lift the fillets out onto a warm gratin dish.

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5. Strain the poaching liquid. Make a roux with the 40 g butter and the flour, then whisk in the liquid and simmer 6 minutes.

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6. Add the cream, Calvados and pepper and reduce until it coats a spoon. Add the mussels, prawns and mushrooms and warm 2 minutes.

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7. Fold the whipped cream into the sauce, pour it over the sole and glaze under a hot grill for 90 seconds, until blistered and gold.

   Mark done Start 90 sec timer

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Things to Watch For

1. Fish out of the pan before the sauce is reduced.
2. Strain the poaching liquid — it is the base of everything.
3. Whipped cream folded in at the end is what lets it glaze.

Changing the Recipe

• In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.

The Short Version

The sole poaches in the cider for four minutes and comes out; the sauce is finished afterwards. Fish left in a sauce while it reduces goes from delicate to woolly, and sole is the most delicate flat fish there is. The final glaze under a hot grill is what makes the dish look like itself — a spoonful of whipped cream folded into the sauce browns in ninety seconds and gives the glossy blistered top the classic version is known for.

To Go With It

Boiled potatoes · A glass of Norman cider · Green beans

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Provençal Ratatouille, French Baguette, Fougasse.

Leftovers

Best immediately. Do not reheat — the fish overcooks.

What's in a Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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