French Friday with Dorie
This week's recipe is supposed to be Almond Flounder Meunière, but we can't get flounder on the West Coast. I looked for an alternative fish on my Seafood Watch app from Monterey Bay Aquarium and it suggested wild caught Pacific Sole. And by sheer coincidence, John and I stopped by Costco on the way home from work Monday night and lo and behold they had some wild caught Pacific Dover Sole!
Dorie states in her intro that this dish is a blend of sole amandine because of the almonds in the recipe and sole meunière because it is cooked in brown butter and garnished with parsley. She made this with flounder because on the East Coast that is easier to find. I remember when I was a teenager in South Carolina going out to lunch with my best friend and she ordered fish almondine every time we went out. EVERY TIME. I liked it and ordered it occasionally, but she was obsessed with it. I don't know if it was because I was thinking back to those teenage years, when I started cooking the fish, or if I was distracted thinking about work, but whatever the reason I found myself dipping the fish into the beaten egg and then rolling it into the ground almonds before slipping them into the hot skillet with the browned butter. As soon as I did that I woke up from my reverie and knew that I made a mistake. The sole is so delicate that it fell apart from the weight of the egg and almonds. It was not a complete disaster because I just finished cooking the pieces of sole and set them aside for tacos because I knew that's how we would end up eating them anyway.
With the three remaining sole filets I followed the recipe exactly and they didn't fall apart. I garnished them with toasted sliced almonds and a little bit of parsley and some lemon wedges on the side. We thought this was a nice change - the sole was light, and tasty with the brown butter and ground almonds, and the crunch and taste of the almond slices made it extra special.
See what kind of fish the rest of the group used in this recipe over at French Fridays with Dorie.
How interesting - I normally would dip the fish in the egg and not think twice, and wondered why we were told to paint it on - which I thought was weird, but now I know why! Your fish looks superb with the sliced almonds on top.
ReplyDeleteI would have never imagined that, this looks great!!!
ReplyDeleteI love recipes that bring back memories! And - I love fish tacos! We used Swai which was delicious & inexpensive. Definitely a keeper.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend!
Your fish looks great. We're having Cinco de Mayo week at our house, so ours went to tacos too. Nice to have a quick, tasty meal during a busy week. It appears you found the perfect substitute...I just found frozen.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking fish! I love fish tacos…so delish! This was a great dinner and we really enjoyed it…loved the nuttiness that the browned butter added. It’s so nice when food brings back wonderful memories! Happy Friday, Elaine!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that almond crusted fish was common in your parts. I'm from CT I never remember anything like it on the menu. This was a great dish.
ReplyDeleteThanks for explaining the reason for the brushing vs. dipping because I am a dunce and didn't realize that was why we did it. I have never had fish tacos before but I feel like I definitely should now. I also used sole and thought it was a lovely little dish. I really like the last shot with the lemon wedges and the almonds - very pretty!
ReplyDeleteMaggie, thank you for stopping by again! I hope you read this because I have wanted to leave you a comment if you have a blog, but your blogger profile doesn't have a web page.
DeleteHi! I can't ever get my Wordpress account to work when I try to comment on Blogger blogs so I have to use my google/gmail account. Anywho, glad you found me and thanks for the nice comments on my blog! :)
DeleteI did it with chicken and loved it, but now the rest of it is going as a taco filling! Great idea
ReplyDeleteThis is such a wonderful way of cooking fish! Thanks for explaining the wrong and the right way of coating the fish! We all learn so much from these!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize flounder was not available on the West Coast, but now I know why I didn't find it! I also used wild Dover sole and it was delicious. Glad you enjoyed it. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteGreat big fillets of fish - it all looks so delicious and I do love your story that comes with the fish quite a bit! Great memories and wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteHave a good weekend!
No flounder here either, or maybe I just haven't figured out the german word for it yet. Either way, I did sole too and it turned out great.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to hear that your fish fell apart when coated on both sides because I was actually wondering why we didn't do just that. Sometimes those little mistakes are quite informative.
I wonder if ANYONE found flouder? I think we all loved this...and yours looks wonderful :)
ReplyDeleteWith your substitution of sole, you're back to the original anyway, just reversing what Dorie did based on what's available here on the East Coast. I didn't realize how the technique was key to the fish being delicate. I was appreciating it for its reduced mess. However, think how delicious those fish tacos are going to be, for Cinco de Mayo, no less! Hope you have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteI bet this made terrific fish tacos! Glad to know I wasn't the only west-coaster not to find flounder. Loved how easy and simple this was, it's a new favorite.
ReplyDeleteMmmmm....fish tacos...
ReplyDeleteElaine, I thought the coating was delicious. Definitely will do this again. Either as served or in fish tacos (good idea), this is tasty. And, your plate was very pretty.
ReplyDeleteElaine...yours looks crunchy delicious ! I love the coating too and will make this again :) Definitely !
ReplyDeleteElaine...yours looks crunchy delicious ! I love the coating too and will make this again :) Definitely !
ReplyDeleteHI Elaine I got your comment in email but it didn't register on my site? Thanks for the reassurance that it gets easier to use this cookbook. I am impressed with the flavors... she is an artist not a technician I can live with that.
ReplyDeleteOhhh! ... I think though that if you were using it for tacos that dipping both sides in the egg wash and almonds wouldnt be such a terrible thing, since you wouldnt put a whole fillet into one taco anyhow!
ReplyDeleteFish & almonds...fabulous!
ReplyDelete~Carmen
http://bakingismyzen.wordpress.com
This combination sounds lovely. I don't make fish often, but this one would be worth trying.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even think to check at Coscto, even though that's where I got my lamb last week. I'll have to make a note of that! It's funny how food can bring back really strong memories.
ReplyDeleteYour sole looks delicious! Sorry about the ones that fell apart, but I bet they tasted delicious as well.
ReplyDeletemmmmm...I should try sole next time. Looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteLooks great and I bet the sole was delicious!
ReplyDeleteI love fish tacos. What a good idea. I thought about using my leftovers in a sandwich, but the tacos do sound better. I live on the east coast and couldn't find flounder either, but we enjoyed it with sole.
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