Filets de Soles aux Crevettes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •11- to 12-inch (28- to 30-cm) lidded sauté pan
• •1½-quart (1.5-liter) saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Parchment paper cut to fit the sauté pan
• •Fish spatula
• •Warmed oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the shrimp

   Peel the small shrimp carefully, keeping the shells for the sauce. Measure exactly 1 oz (28 g) of shelled tails, cover them, and keep them chilled until the final warming. The book intends these tails as a concentrated garnish in the center of the platter, not as a second portion of seafood.

2. 2

   Build the shrimp sauce

   Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the reserved shrimp shells and stir for 2 minutes, pressing them gently with a wooden spoon until the butter smells distinctly of shrimp without taking brown color. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute to make a pale roux, the butter-and-flour base. Gradually whisk in ¾ cup (180 ml) of the fish fumet, followed by the cream, adding each splash only after the last has become smooth. Hold the sauce at a bare simmer for 5 minutes, then pass it through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and cover it off the heat. If the roux seizes when the liquid enters, stop pouring, take the pan off the heat, and whisk it smooth with another spoonful of fumet before continuing. Ça se rattrape.

   Keep this roux pale. Browning would bury the sweetness of the sole and turn an ivory-coral sauce muddy.
3. 3

   Fold the fillets

   Butter a snug 11- to 12-inch (28- to 30-cm) lidded sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Lay the sole fillets skinned side up and season them evenly with the salt and white pepper. Fold the tapered half of each fillet toward its thicker end so the former skin sides meet inside and the smooth surface faces outward. Arrange the folded fillets in one close layer without overlapping. Folding gives each delicate fillet enough thickness to poach evenly and hold its shape on the platter.

4. 4

   Poach below simmer

   Pour 1½ cups (360 ml) of the remaining fish fumet around the fillets, adding a little more only if needed to reach about halfway up their sides. Press a round of parchment directly over the fish and cover the pan. Warm it gradually over medium-low heat until the liquid trembles at the edge, then lower the heat and poach for 5 to 8 minutes. The fumet must not boil. If bubbles begin breaking across the surface, lift the pan off the heat, uncover it for 30 seconds, and resume over the lowest flame. Ça se rattrape if you catch it before the fillets tighten. The fish is ready when the folds are opaque, part gently under light pressure, and reach 140°F (60°C); they will carry to 145°F (63°C) while the sauce is finished. Lift the fillets carefully, let each drain for a moment, and arrange them in an oval on a warmed serving platter, leaving the center open. Cover lightly with the parchment.

   A violent poach turns sole dry at the edges before its folded center cooks. Look for a quiet tremble in the liquid, never a rolling surface.
5. 5

   Finish and coat

   Whisk ¼ cup (60 ml) of the hot poaching fumet into the shrimp sauce and return it to a bare simmer. Reduce only until it reaches nappant, a coating consistency that leaves an even veil on the back of a spoon. If it is too thick, loosen it spoonful by spoonful with reserved fumet; if it is thin, give it another minute of gentle reduction. Add the shrimp tails and warm them for 30 to 45 seconds, then lift them into the open center of the oval platter. Take the sauce off the heat and monter au beurre, finishing it by whisking in the final cold tablespoon of butter. If oily beads appear, keep the pan off the heat and whisk in a teaspoon of cool fumet until the sauce comes together. Coat the fillets and the hot shrimp generously, letting the sauce pool naturally around them. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The specified one ounce of shelled shrimp tails is intentional. Keep it exact and centered; adding a large heap of shrimp would alter the balance and obscure the sole.
• •True Dover sole has the finest texture here. Lemon sole or a thin flounder can stand in honestly, but begin checking a minute earlier because the fillets are often more delicate.
• •Use a finished fish fumet with a clean, restrained flavor, homemade or good-quality and low in salt. Chicken stock is not its cousin here; it overwhelms both the sole and the shrimp.
• •Whole cooked brown shrimp provide the tails and the shells needed for the sauce. If they are unavailable, use small raw shell-on shrimp, poach the peeled tails briefly in the fumet, and measure 1 oz (28 g) for the platter.
• •Serve with plain boiled new potatoes or rice and a dry Muscadet. The dish waits badly, so bring it directly to the table once sauced.
• •Leftovers may be refrigerated for one day and reheated below a simmer with a spoonful of fumet, though the sole will be firmer. This is a dish best finished when it is made.

Advance Preparation

• •The fish fumet can be prepared up to two days ahead and kept chilled, or frozen in measured portions for up to two months.
• •The shrimp sauce may be made through the straining step up to four hours ahead. Press parchment against its surface, chill it promptly, then reheat gently before adding the poaching fumet and final butter.
• •The sole fillets can be checked for bones, folded, and covered in the refrigerator up to two hours ahead. Season them only when they go into the pan so salt does not draw moisture from their surface.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)