Practical household cookery

Clean and trim two large soles as described in Na 425 ; make an incision on each side of the bone down the whole fish, break the bone in pieces with the handle of the knife, so as to facilitate removing it when cooked, pass these through breadings and bread-raspings (Noa 268 and 269), and fry them in hot fat for about ten or twelve minutes. When the soles are properly cooked, drain on a doth, put them on a dish, remove the pieces of bone, fill the inside with some cold mattre d'hdtel (No. 226), garnish with a little fried parsley, put the dish for two minutes in the oven, and serve with a lemon cut in four. 427. SOLES WITH FINE HERBS. Clean and trim two large soles as in the foregoing ; put them on a buttered saut^-pan, sprinkle over them some chopped mushrooms, parsley, and one shalot ; season with salt) pepper, and a little nutmeg ; moisten with two glasses of white wine ; cover the soles with a buttered paper and set them in the oven to cook. When done, drain the liquor into a small stewpan containing half a pint of Allemande sauce; add to it a spoonful of blanched and chopped parsley, a pat of fresh butter, and the juice of a lemon ; stir the whole well together on the fire ; dish up the soles, pour the sauce over, and serve. 428. SOLES AU 6RATIN. After having cleaned and trimmed, in the usual way, two large soles, spread them in a well-buttered gratin-dish or gratin-pan ; season with salt and pepper, moisten with half a pint of white wine, and sprinkle with a little finely chopped parsley ; put these in the oven to bake for about twenty minutes ; after which, pour over them half a pint of Italian sauce (No. 204). Strew the top thickly with bread-raspings, push the dish back in the oven for a few minutes to gratinate, and just before serving pass the red-hot salamander over them, 429. SOLES A LA PROVENgALE. Take two large soles, trim and clean as in the foregoing, place them in a sautée-pan properly seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and chopped parsley ; add to these a gill of white wine and the same quantity of salad-oil; cover the fish with a well-oiled sheet of paper, and set the pan in the oven to bake. Meanwhile shred four large onions and fry them in a gill of good oil to a nice brown colour. When the soles are done dish up, drain the onions and mix them with the liquor of the fish, pour it over the soles, and serve after having squeezed the juice of half a lemon over them. 480. FILLETS OF SOLE A LA LIVOURNAISE. Trim and clean two soles in the usual way ; place them in a sautée-pan with a gill each of white wine, good vinegar, and broth. Season properly with salt, pepper, nutmeg, chopped parsley, mace, and majoram. Cook on a good fire for ten minutes, and let them get cold ; after which, fillet with a pointed knife and put back in the saut^-pan with the bones. Lay on each fillet, with a knife, a tablespoonful of raw fish forcemeat (No. 275); add a little anchovy batter, the juice of half a lemon, a few slices of cooked mushrooms and truffles on each fillet. Cover these with a buttered sheet of paper, boil, and place the sautée-pan in a very hot oven for a quarter of an hour. Meanwhile prepare as many slices of buttered toast, cut of the same shape as the fillets of soles, and dish up the fillets on them, and pour the sauce over the lot before ser%4ng. 48L SOLES WITH FRIED PARSLEY. After having cleaned and trimmed two soles, throw them into two quarts of boiling salt water. Meanwhile boil the frying fat, and when the soles are nearly cooked strain and dry them well, then dip them in the frying fat with some parsley, and serve with a lemon cut in four, garnished with the fried parsley. This simple mode of cooking suits any kind of salt-water fish, and can be recommended. 482. HLLETED SOLES. VENITIAN SAUCE.