Sole with Brown Butter Lemon Sauce

It's not every day that a four-year-old asks for Sole A La Meuniere, but you know when he does that it must be something special.  My kids aren't big eaters.  I've said it before, but it's true.  This is the ONLY recipe I have that everyone wants more of.  The last few times I've made it I have noticed the disappointment on my husband's face when the boys say they'd like seconds leaving none for him.  So, next time we'll be making a double batch and there will be seconds for everyone!

Ingredients

1 lb. Dover Sole fillets

Grapeseed Oil

1 1/4 tsp. Salt

6 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter

1/2 tsp. Black pepper

2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice

1 C. Flour

1/4 C. Flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Dry the sole fillets. Mix flour, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper in a large flat dish (I use a pie plate).  Dredge the fillets in the flour and shake off the excess. Stack layers of fish between wax paper.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large sauté pan over a medium high flame. When the oil smokes, add 2 fillets and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (depending on thickness). Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the warm oven; repeat with the remaining fillets. Add oil as necessary, heating to the smoking point before adding the fillets.  

Meanwhile, in a saucepan melt butter over a medium flame, stirring frequently. It will melt, foam, subside, and then begin to bubble again and turn a nutty brown.  Remove from heat immediately as it burns quickly at this point.   If you feel like you need more help with the brown butter, see this tutorial: How to Brown Butter.  Add the lemon juice, parsley, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and several grindings of white pepper to taste. Serve the fillets on warm plates with the sauce spooned over.

Baked Cod with Crunchy Lemon-Herb Topping

No. I didn't take this picture. Truth be told, pictures are the main reason I haven't been posting. I just can't be bothered to stop and take pictures while I'm cooking or even less-so when dinner is ready and I'm trying to get everything on the table. I don't know how those other bloggers do it! So, this picture is courtesy of Cook's Country, a more down-home version of Cook's Illustrated. I've made this a couple times and both times we really liked it. Ok. It has mayonnaise in it, but sometimes you just have to overlook those bits of country and get something quick and tasty on the table. At Trader Joe's I didn't see Cod Filets, but they did have Cod pieces, which actually worked fine...just be sure to keep and eye on them because they won't take as long to cook.

Baked Cod with Crunchy Lemon-Herb Topping

1 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
24 Ritz Crackers, crushed into coarse crumbs (I used Whole Wheat Ritz)
2 Tbsp. Minced Parsley, divided
3 Tbsp. Mayonnaise
2 sm. Garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. Lemon Zest
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
4 skinless Cod Filets (about 2 lbs)
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon wedges for serving (optional)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat over to 450 degrees. Grease baking sheet with butter. Toss cracker crubs and 1 Tbsp. parsley together in medium bowl. Mix remaining parsley, mayonnaise, garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice together in a small bowl.

Pat fish dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Place on buttered baking sheet, spacing pieces about 1/2 inch apart. Brush tops and sides of fish with mayonnaise mixture, the press cracker crumbs into mayonnaise.

Bake until crumbs are golden brown and fish flakes apart with fork, about 15 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

Smoked Salmon

Smokin' has become a new hobby around the Vaccaro/Nassau parts. It all started when my dad's longtime friend gave him his smoker that he thought was too much trouble. My parents usually have a family dinner on Sunday nights and so dinner usually is a little more than a typical weekday dinner. The testing started with a turkey and some sausage. The next attempt was Ribs and then Salmon (and it is here that we struck gold) and dad has moved on to other items including chicken, pork and brisket.

When Jenny and Scott English moved to Texas we inherited a smoker from them and starting today have begun a smoking journey of our own. Now there is a benchmark Salmon...the one my dad made for Aitan's bris. Incidentally, there has been a disagreement between my dad and I about the Salmon. He thinks it was too salty, but to me the salt was part of what made it great. I keep drawing him back to the way people were raving over the salmon (literally, "oh, cute baby...who made the Salmon?"), but he won't hear it. So if we ever want to have it that way again, it's up to us. I seasoned it the first couple times so I had that part down, but getting the technique right, well, that was the challenge. Luckily it turned out!

As a side note, my parents neighbor also smokes salmon, and he even goes through an extra step of brining the salmon, but after having tasted his, I still prefer this simple method.

So, if you have a smoker and feel up to smoking some salmon, here's the technique:

Salmon Filet (doesn't seem to make a difference whether skin is off or on, but I prefer off)
1 part rock salt
2 parts brown sugar
Hickory wood chips
Hickory chunks

So, I mix the brown sugar (1/2 C.) and rock salt (1/4 C.) and spread on both sides of a skinless filet. Usually I do this while the man of the house is getting the smoker ready, so it never "seasons" longer than an hour, which is being generous.

Prepare the smoker according to manufacturer instructions. Using the chunks as fire (although this smoker is electic, so we didn't need them as fire). The woodchips are soaked to prevent burning and placed in a container above the heat to provide the smoky flavor. Bring the smoker to the appropriate temperature (about 180 degrees) and cook for about 2 hours.
When the salmon is done scrape off the rock salt and any fat that has risen to the surface. Serve hot, cold or room temperature.

I'm sure it never would have tasted so good without a little help from Ilan.