Dover Sole Véronique with Muscat Grapes

⏱ 55 min · Serves 2

A classic of the old French repertoire, given a light modern touch: delicate fillets of Dover sole poached in vermouth and fish stock, the liquor reduced to a glossy velvet sauce and finished with cream and cool, peeled Muscat grapes. Elegant, faintly sweet, and utterly restaurant-worthy.

Per serving: 530 kcal · 42.0g protein · 15.0g carbs · 33.0g fat

Ingredients

• 2 Dover sole (about 400g each), skinned and filleted into 8 fillets (ask your fishmonger, keep the bones)
• 150g seedless Muscat or green grapes
• 20g unsalted butter, plus 15g cold butter for the sauce
• 1 small shallot, finely sliced
• 100ml dry vermouth (Noilly Prat) or dry white wine
• 200ml good fish stock (or made from the sole bones)
• 80ml double cream
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 small egg yolk (optional, for glazing under the grill)
• Sea salt and white pepper
• 1 tbsp finely snipped chives, to serve

Method

1. Bring a small pan of water to the boil. Drop in the grapes for 8–10 seconds, lift out into cold water, then slip off the skins with a small knife. Set aside at room temperature.
2. Season the sole fillets lightly with salt and white pepper. Fold each in half, skinned side inwards, so they sit as neat parcels.
3. Butter a wide, shallow pan or ovenproof dish with the 20g butter and scatter over the sliced shallot. Lay the fillets on top in a single layer.
4. Pour over the vermouth and fish stock, bring barely to a simmer on the hob, then cover with buttered baking parchment and poach very gently for 4–5 minutes, until the fish is just opaque and firm to a light touch. Do not boil.
5. Lift the fillets onto a warm plate, cover loosely with foil and keep warm.
6. Strain the poaching liquor into a clean pan and boil hard until reduced to about 4 tablespoons of syrupy glaze — this is where the flavour lives.
7. Add the cream and simmer 2–3 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Off the heat, whisk in the cold butter, then the lemon juice. Taste and season.
8. Warm the peeled grapes briefly in the sauce, but don't let them cook to mush.
9. Arrange the sole on warm plates, spoon over the sauce and grapes. For the classic finish, whisk the egg yolk into the sauce before napping the fish and flash under a very hot grill for 30–60 seconds until lightly gilded.
10. Scatter with chives and serve at once, with steamed new potatoes or buttered spinach.