Butter Steamed Lemon Sole with Petit Pois Francaise

The Recycled Cook

Butter Steamed Lemon Sole with Petit Pois Francaise  

Trying out a new technique today, (new to me anyway). This is a method of steaming fish in parchment which has been spread with butter.

 There are just two elements to this dish, the fish will take very little cooking so I will deal with the Petit Pois first as this takes quite a lot of preparation. 

 I had some Lemon Sole that was already filleted, if filleting your own you will of course need to allow enough time for that too.
You can either remove the skin altogether or leave it on and simplytake the fish off the skin when you eat the dish. 

 To prepare the Petit Pois a la Francaise you will need either two Baby Gem lettuce or one Romaine lettuce, which I have used. quarter them lengthwise and set aside. Chop some spring onions coarsely and add a sliced egg shallot or a small onion. I added some lardons too but you can of course leave this out if you don't eat meat

 Fresh peas would be perfect but I had available a tin of garden peas which I drained and rinsed well. 

 In a large frying pan fry off the lardons in some olive oil and a few cubes of butter, if using, until they are slightly browned. Add the chopped spring onion shallots and 3 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped. Season well with black pepper. You will be adding stock so best not to add salt at this stage, you can always adjust the seasoning at the end. Put a saucepan of vegetable stock on with boiling water and keep warm once it reaches boiling point. adjust water to taste.

 Once this is done set aside until ready to finish the dish, you can add a ladle of stock at this point to help develop the flavours.

Prepare the parchment for cooking, cut cutting a piece twice the size of the fish as you will fold it over to cook. You will need a piece for each fillet.

 I used a spreadable butter to cover one half of the parchment. Season the fillets well with salt and some white pepper. lay the fillet skin side up on the butter. If you have skinned it then it doesn't matter which way up.
Fold the parchment over the fish. 
















You are now ready to cook the Petit Pois. Add two more ladles of stock to the pan and bring it up to simmering point. You only want the lettuce to wilt and keep some bite so don't add this to the pan until you have the fish cooking too.

 For the fish you will need a frying pan large enough to take the folded parchment flat. Heat until it is smoking hot. Now place the lettuce quarters in the simmering stock along with the garden peas and simmer until the lettuce is wilting but still crunchy the tinned peas only need heating through. If using fresh peas you will need to add them much earlier.

 Place the fish parcel butter side down in the pan for 1 minute only. turn off the hear and carefully turn over the parcel for another minute. This will cook the fish perfectly. Serve the lettuce with a slotted spoon so it isn't swimming in stock and top with the pease, lardons and onions.

 The fish can be garnished with a pea frond if you have grown your own (see previous blog) or some flat leaf parsley. Serve with a segment of lemon on the side and you are done. 
Disclaimer: The suggestions and tips on these blog pages are meant to be used in conjunction with common sense. Keeping your family healthy is the priority. Do not use food that is unfit for human consumption and always follow sensible food hygiene guidelines. http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/food-leftovers-safety.aspx

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