Recipe: Lemon Sole Veronique
05 October 2017 at 11:25
This is a real classic dish from my Savoy hotel days ( it was created by Savoy chef Escoffier) and, like most great dishes, it is simple to do provided you have fresh ingredients! At the Savoy we used Dover sole but lemon sole is perfectly good and in many ways it’s more delicate flavour responds better to the grapes and vermouth. If you don’t have Vermouth, a dry white wine will do just as well.
I am a great fan of potatoes and new potatoes go really well with this and maybe green beans, but at this time of year a creamy mash is good or even some simple flat pasta noodles.
Ingredients
8 fillets of lemon sole, skinned
500ml fish stock
3 tblsp dry vermouth
250 ml double cream
Squeeze fresh lemon juice
25 seedless green grapes, cut in half top to bottom
Good tblsp chopped flat parsley
Salt and ground black pepper
Method
- Turn the oven to 180C gas 4.
- Lightly season the fillets and fold them over on the skin side and place in a buttered ovenable pan, add the stock and cover with foil and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes.
- Remove the fish and keep warm, add the vermouth to the pan and reduce by half, add the cream and the grapes and simmer until the sauce just coats the back of a spoon, add the chopped parsley, lemon juice and check for seasoning.
- Place the fish fillets on plates or in a serving dish and pour the sauce over making sure the grapes are well distributed.
Recipe by Christopher Trotter
Food photography by Caroline Trotter