Recently, I happened upon some really nice dover sole, so I bought a few fillets and intended to sauté them in butter and devour some of it with a glass of wine and some grilled zucchini. But once I returned home and was ready to make my meal, I didn’t feel inspired by a simple sautéd piece of fish, I felt compelled to make something a little diverse. So I made stuffed dover sole with brown butter sauce.
I haven’t cooked dover sole in a while as I used to eat it so much in London, and now that I live in New York, there are other varieties of fish to OD on that are not so readily available back home. Stuffed dover sole with brown butter sauce was a great reintroduction to what is a really a nice piece of fish.
I stuffed the dover sole with couscous, mixed with red pepper, chives and parsley. This is a simple recipe, once you master the stuffing part. All you need to do to stuff the fillets of dover sole, is to place a generous amount of the couscous mixture in the middle of the widest part of each fillet and then wrap the fillet around the filing by taking both ends of the fish, and slightly twisting the two ends of the fillet so that they can reach underneath to make a parcel. Place each fish parcel in an ovenproof dish making sure that the ends of the fillets are placed faced down.
Now I know you don’t need me to tell you that brown butter sauce isn’t going to help you stick to a healthy eating plan. So I recommend serving it with steamed or grilled vegetables, just to strike a balance with your calorie intake. If you’re a wine drinker you should pair this stuffed dover sole with Chablis, or a pinot blanc if a Chablis is hard to find. For me, wine is essential with this dish, it brings out the flavor of the dover sole, and cuts through the richness of the brown butter sauce.
Give this recipe a try, you will really like it and so will your family and friends. Just serve with a variety of vegetables, a nice dry white wine and end the meal with something sweet.
Stuffed Dover Sole with Brown Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry couscous
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup sweet red pepper minced
- 1/2 cup chives chopped
- 1/4 parsley minced
- 1 lb dover sole fillets
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt to season fillets
Brown Butter Sauce
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 3/4 cup beefeater tomatoes
- Salt to taste
Equipment & Utensils
- Large sieve
- Ovenproof dish
- Medium saucepan
Instructions
- Boil at least 4 cups water in a kettle.
- Tip couscous into fine holed sieve and place the sieve in a bowl.
- Once water is boiled, pour over couscous until water covers couscous completely and then cover.
- Leave to cook for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes the couscous should have double in size.
- Test to make sure couscous is cooked and then remove from bowl of water, fork through and then allow to drain.
- Once couscous has drained, season with salt and then add butter.
- Toss until butter has been thoroughly absorbed.
- Add red pepper, chives and parsley, mix thoroughly and set aside.
- Wash fish fillets and cut in half. Your fillets should be approx. 4" wide.
- Dry fillets with a paper towel until completely dry and then season with salt to taste.
- Place approx. 2 tbsp of couscous mixture onto the widest part of each fillet and then wrap into parcels and place in ovenproof dish.
- Place in preheated oven at 375 and cook for 20 minutes.
- Once cooked remove from ovenproof dish immediately and place on dinner plate or serving plate.
Brown Butter Sauce
- Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat for 5-8 minutes.
- Once melted butter begins to brown add lime juice and tomatoes and salt to taste.
- Stir vigorously and remove from heat.
- Pour brown butter sauce over fish and serve as desired.
