Filets de Soles Orientale

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •30 cm (12-inch) lidded sauté pan
• •3 L (3-quart) saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Whisk
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Oval serving platter and small rice timbale or bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Set the service

   Warm an oval serving platter and a small timbale or bowl with hot water, then dry them well. Fold each sole fillet in three with its former skin side inward, season with ¾ teaspoon of the salt and half the white pepper, and keep cool. Slice the cooked lobster across the tail into thick medallions. Measure every sauce ingredient now. Once the liaison begins, there is no useful time for rummaging.

2. 2

   Cook the rice

   Bring the water to a full boil with 2 teaspoons of the salt. Add the rice and boil uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring once, until the grains are tender but remain distinct. Drain thoroughly, return the rice to the dry saucepan, and shake it over low heat for 2 minutes to drive off surface moisture. Fold in 2 tablespoons of the butter, cover, and hold over the gentlest heat for no more than 20 minutes. This is riz à l’Indienne: dry, separate, and buttered. If the grains begin sticking together, ça se rattrape: rinse them briefly with hot water, drain hard, then return them to low heat before adding the butter.

   The curry belongs in the sauce, not the rice. The rice is deliberately quiet so it can carry the rich liaison without competing with it.
3. 3

   Poach the sole

   Rub a wide lidded sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter and arrange the folded fillets in one snug layer. Add the wine and ¾ cup of the fish stock, reserving the rest for adjusting the sauce. Bring the liquid just to a tremble, cover, and shallow-poach for 5 to 7 minutes, until the thickest fold is opaque, gently springy, and reaches 145°F (63°C). A hard boil tightens delicate sole, so lower the heat the moment the liquid becomes lively. Lift the fillets onto the warm platter, cover loosely with parchment, and keep them beside the stove.

4. 4

   Build the reduction

   Strain the poaching liquor into a measuring jug and wipe the pan clean. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-low heat, add the curry powder, and stir for 20 seconds, just until fragrant. Do not brown it or the sauce will taste bitter. Pour the poaching liquor back into the pan and boil briskly until reduced to about ½ cup (120 ml). This reduction is the foundation, so reduce by volume rather than by the clock.

5. 5

   Warm the lobster

   Add ¾ cup of the cream to the reduction and simmer gently until the sauce lightly nappes, or coats, the back of a spoon. Slide in the lobster medallions and warm them for 60 to 90 seconds without boiling, then lift them onto the sole. The lobster is already cooked; another hard cooking would turn generosity into rubber. If the sauce has tightened before the lobster is warm, loosen it with a tablespoon of the reserved fish stock.

6. 6

   Bind the liaison

   Whisk the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of the cream and the Madeira in a bowl. Whisk in a ladleful of the hot curry cream, then a second, and return the mixture to the pan. Stir constantly over the lowest heat until it reaches 160°F (71°C) and falls from the spoon in a thick ribbon. Never let it boil. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, cold and diced. If the sauce turns grainy or shows beads of separated butter, stop. Ça se rattrape: put 1 tablespoon of the reserved cold cream in a clean warm bowl, then whisk in the troubled sauce one spoonful at a time until smooth. Strain it if a few specks remain.

   If the liaison is too thick, add reserved fish stock a teaspoon at a time. If it is loose, return it to the gentlest heat and stir for another minute, but do not answer a thin sauce with a boil.
7. 7

   Sauce and serve

   Taste the sauce for salt and the remaining white pepper. Arrange the lobster medallions along the folded sole and spoon the curry-scented New-burg sauce generously over everything, letting it pool around the fillets. Pack the riz à l’Indienne lightly into its warmed timbale or bowl and send it to the table separately, exactly as the source permits. Serve at once, with rice first and the sauced fish laid beside it. À table!

Chef Tips

• •True Dover sole is magnificent but not required. Lemon sole or gray sole works well, and thin flounder fillets can stand in honestly; fold those only once and begin checking them after 4 minutes because their flesh is softer.
• •Use cooked lobster with a clean, sweet smell and firm flesh. Buying cooked tail meat removes a separate shellfish station from the evening, which is brigade scaffolding, not the heart of Orientale.
• •Choose a mild, balanced curry powder and let it open briefly in butter. A very hot blend buries the lobster, while old powder contributes little beyond dust. The curry should ride the cream, not conquer it.
• •Fish stock must be light and preferably unsalted. A dark, strongly smoked, or tomato-rich stock will muddy the pale sauce and fight the Madeira.
• •Pour a dry Alsace Pinot Gris or a restrained white Burgundy. The wine needs enough body for cream and lobster, but little sweetness because the sauce already carries warm spice.
• •Refrigerate leftovers promptly and eat them the next day. Reheat in a bain-marie, a gentle water bath, whisking in a spoonful of cream; direct heat is likely to split the liaison.

Advance Preparation

• •Up to 4 hours ahead, fold and season the sole, slice the cooked lobster, and refrigerate them separately in covered containers.
• •Rinse the rice and measure all sauce ingredients up to 4 hours ahead. Keep the cream and egg yolks cold until needed.
• •The riz à l’Indienne may be finished 20 minutes before the fish and held over the lowest heat. Loosen the grains gently with a fork just before filling the timbale.
• •Poach the sole and make the liaison close to service. The sauce depends on the fish’s reduced cooking liquor, and holding the finished yolk-bound sauce only increases the chance that it will split.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 490g)