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Oven-Poached Pacific Sole With Lemon Caper Sauce

5.0(1073)

A fish piccata of sorts, this dish is easy to make and the lemon-caper sauce marries well with delicate varieties like sole, fluke or flounder, as well as more robust fish like swordfish. Start by laying fish fillets out in a baking dish and seasoning them with salt and pepper. Finely chop some shallots and briefly cook them in a skillet before adding wine. Pour the wine and shallots over the fish, cover with foil and bake until opaque and the fish pulls apart easily when gently probed with a fork. Meanwhile, whisk together garlic, capers, lemon juice and olive oil. When the fish emerges from the oven, pour the liquid from the dish back into the skillet to make a pan sauce. Reduce it to about 1/4 cup — thicker than you may imagine — stirring all the while. Add the garlic-caper mixture and some chopped parsley, whisk together and serve on top of the fillets, the mild flesh of the fish bathing in the bright, brawny flavors of the sauce.

by Martha Rose Shulman

Open original recipe

Dinner, Weeknight, Main Course

Servings

Serves 4

Total time

40 min

Calories / serving

301 kcal

Ingredients (10)

serves

1 1/2 pounds Pacific sole or flounder fillets
Salt and freshly ground peppersalt-and-pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oilolive-oil
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallotshallot
1 cup dry white wine (you can also use rosé; the sauce will have a pink hue)
1 plump garlic clove, minced or puréed (more to taste)clove
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and coarsely choppedcapers
1/4 cup fresh lemon juicelemon-juice
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oilolive-oil
2 to 4 tablespoons finely chopped parsleyparsley

Instructions (4 steps)

01Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Oil or butter one or two baking dishes large enough to accommodate the fish fillets in one layer. Lay the fish in the dish(es) and season with salt and pepper.
02Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a small or medium skillet and add the shallot. Cook, stirring, until tender and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the wine to the pan, bring to a boil, and pour the wine and shallots over the fish. Return the skillet to the stove (make sure the heat is off) for later use. Cover the baking dish with foil and place in the oven. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or 5 minutes for each 1/2 inch of thickness, until the fish is opaque and pulls apart easily with a fork.