Dover sole à la meunière with potatoes
Also known just as ‘Dover sole meunière’, this is ‘miller’s style’. The dish gets its name from the light dusting of flour the fish is given before frying. Alternatively you can use any flatfish.
Ingredients
For the sautéed potatoes
- 750g/1lb 10oz floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper, peeled and cut into chunks of about 4cm/1½in
- 15–20g/½–¾oz polenta or breadcrumbs
- 40g/1½oz unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Dover sole meunière
- 2 Dover soles (400–450g/14–16fl oz each), trimmed and skinned
- 25g/1oz plain flour
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 2 tsp capers
- 1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges, to serve
- salt and freshly ground white pepper
For the buttered rainbow chard
- 150²µ/5½´Ç³ú rainbow chard
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
For the potatoes, put them in a large saucepan of well-salted water set over medium-high heat. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender – about 7 minutes. Drain well and leave in the colander until the steam has died down, then sprinkle with the polenta or breadcrumbs to coat.
Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat. It’s important not to overcrowd the pan, so if you don’t have a really large pan, use two smaller ones. Add the potatoes and fry them over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning them over as they brown, until they are crisp, golden-brown and sandy – the outside of the potatoes should break off a little as you fry them to give them a nice crumbly, crunchy crust. Remove from the pan and season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Keep them warm.
For the sole, take a pair of sharp scissors and cut the frilly fins and the fleshy bones off both sides. Repeat with the other sole. Season the fish with salt and white pepper. Dip both sides of each one into the flour and pat off the excess.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Add one of the soles, lower the heat slightly and add a small piece of the butter. Fry over a medium heat for 4–5 minutes, without moving, until richly golden.
Carefully turn the fish over and cook for a further 4–5 minutes until golden-brown and cooked through. Lift on to a serving plate and keep warm. Repeat with the second fish.
Discard the frying oil and wipe the pan clean. Add the remaining butter and allow it to melt over a medium heat. When the butter starts to smell nutty and turn light brown, add the lemon juice, parsley, capers and season with salt and pepper.
Pour some of this beurre noisette over each fish and serve with lemon wedges.
For the chard, put in a pan and let it wilt over a medium-low heat. Once wilted, add the butter and season with salt and pepper.
Serve the fish alongside the crispy potatoes and buttery chard.
