Bless My Sole!

OK so it’s part of the opening line of the Elvis hit ‘I’m All Shook Up’ but I am talking ‘Fish’ here.

You should know by now that I like to cook, I find it therapeutic, perhaps because it is such a vastly different activity to acoustic cleaning technology.

Whilst at my local excellent fishmonger The Fish Cellar in Penrith, Cumbria I had a look at Neil’s wide selection of flat fish. I never quite realised that there were so many different types. Here are a few of the 400+ species:-

Sole – Turbot – Plaice – Halibut – Brill – Dab – Flounder – Megrim

The most obvious characteristic of the flatfish family is their asymmetry, with both eyes being on the same side of their head. Another typical characteristic is the top skin is pigmented, often to serve as camouflage. Perhaps the two species which I buy to cook with are the Halibut and my favourite, the Dover Sole. The Halibut has a dark brownish skin, forked tail and a lateral stripe. It is usually between 500 mm – 1400 mm, weighing between 5 kg – 70 kg.

The Dover Sole is a much smaller, grey brown in colour with dark spots and grows to between 200 mm – 460 mm. To me it is the Queen of flat fish and is renowned for its delicate flavour. That is why I always cook it in a simple manner, either on the bone (which I prefer) of off the bone as fillets (which everyone else seems to prefer).

So this time Mark at the Fish Cellar kindly skinned and filleted the Dover Soles for me. If you would like to try this task for yourself follow this video link.

Start by melting some butter (with a little vegetable oil to stop the butter from burning) in a large frying pan to a reasonably hot temperature, dip the dried fillets in flour, shaking off the excess. Fry gently with some lemon rind, say two minutes max on each side, place on a plate, splash on some lemon juice, sprinkle with a little chopped parsley and serve with buttered whole baby potatoes and French beans.

Simple but very effective – just like our Primasonics Acoustic Cleaners!