Recipe By: “From Julia Child’s Kitchen” 1975
Ingredients:
12 sole fillets — skinned & boned
1 1/2 cups mushrooms — sliced
2 1/2 tablespoons shallots — minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley — minced
1 tablespoon butter — softened
1 1/4 cups dry white wine
1/2 cup fish stock
or bottled clam juice
2 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
drops of lemon juice
Directions:
Preparing the dish for the oven. Score the milky side of fillets to prevent from curling. Salt and pepper lightly on the scored side, and, if you wish, fold them in half end to end, milky side inside. Trim the mushrooms, wash them rapidly, drain, and slice thinly. Toss in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of the shallots, the parsley, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a big pinch of pepper. Smear half a tablespoon of butter in a 9x12x2 inch baking dish, and spread in the mushrooms. Arrange the fillets, slightly overlapping, on top of the mushrooms (if fillets have not been folded, place them milky side down). Lightly salt and pepper top of fish, and sprinkle on the remaining shallots, pour on the wine, and enough fish stock or clam juice almost to cover the fish. Smear butter on one side a piece of wax paper, and lay it buttered side down on the fillets. * Refrigerate if you are not yet ready to cook the fish.
Baking, saucing, and serving: 20 to 30 minutes in all; oven at 350 degrees. About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, bring just to the simmer on top of the stove; set in lower middle of preheated oven to 8-10 minutes. Fish is done when springy rather than squashy to the touch, and when it has turned from translucent to milky white–do not overcook or fish will flake and lose its juices. Remove from oven, place a cover over dish, and drain cooking liquid into a stainless or enameled 3-quart saucepan. (While making sauce, leave wax paper and cover on fish; place in turned-off oven leaving door ajar, or over a pan of simmering water.)
Rapidly boil down cooking liquid until a bit less than a cup remains; drain fish again during this period, adding liquid to pan. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, make a white roux with 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 ½ tablespoons of flour (stir butter and flour together over moderate heat until they foam and froth for 2 minutes without turning more than a buttery yellow; remove from heat). Whip the hot cooking juices into the warm roux to blend smoothly; bring to the boil, stirring, and boil 2 minutes. Sauce should be thick; drain fish again into sauce, then thin out sauce with spoonfuls of cream. It should now just be thick enough to coat fish nicely; correct seasoning carefully. Off heat and just before serving, beat in the butter by spoonfuls, adding drops of lemon juice if needed. Spoon the sauce over the fish, decorate with parsley and serve immediately.
Serve with tiny boiled potatoes