This indulgent fish recipe from Olia Hercules is ideal for an intimate dinner for two. Perfect served with a chilled glass of the Little Frances Semillon; it's zesty freshness along with hallmark notes of honey and hazelnuts beautifully complement the bold flavours and richness of this dish.
Serves 2
150g sorrel
100g unsalted butter
2 small garlic cloves
75g brown shrimp
Sea salt
1 flat fish, Lemon Sole in this instance
1 tbsp neutral oil
30g butter
New potatoes to serve
METHOD
To make the sauce, have a bowl with icy cold water at the ready. Chop the sorrel across, stalks and all into big chunks, put it into an empty bowl. Pour some boiling water over the sorrel, then immediately drain and refresh in ice cold water. The sorrel will lose its bright green colour, but I wouldn’t worry about that. Drain it really well and make sure to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. I do this with my hands over the sink.
Blitz the butter, garlic, and 50g of the shrimp in a food processor. Then add the squeezed, blanched sorrel and blitz again into a homogenous mass. Taste to check the seasoning. The flavour should be bright, a little shrimpy, garlicky, well-seasoned and slightly sour.
You can keep this butter wrapped in some clingfilm in the fridge. It will make more than you need, but it’s so good stirred through boiled potatoes or scrambled eggs.
Preheat the grill on high.
For the fish, heat the butter and 1tbsp neutral oil in a frying pan, then season the fish with salt and add the whole sole presentation side down. Leave it for 2 minutes without disturbing. Then tilt the pan and baste it with the butter while cooking for a further 2 minutes. Turn it on its white side now and cook for another 4-5 minutes. It’s ready when the flesh comes off the bone easily.
Cut off two discs off the sorrel butter cylinder and add them on top of the fish alongside the remaining brown shrimp. Place under the grill briefly to take the edge off the raw garlic and melt the butter; a minute should do it.
Alternatively, for an easier method of cooking, you can roast the fish whole in the oven. Rub the fish all over with the oil, lay on a baking tray, place the butter in cubes on top with a good pinch of salt. Roast for 10-15 minutes at 180c until the flesh comes away from the bones easily. Add the sorrel butter in chunks on top of the fish and brown shrimps scattered over as well, for the last minute.
Serve with some simple boiled potatoes. Grenaille, a French variety, work particularly well as they are lovely and sweet. But any small waxy potato is good. This dish goes very well served with a chilled glass of the Little Frances Semillon.
