Filet of Sole in Lemon Butter: Sole Meunière

"Meunière" means "miller's wife" in French; thus, in culinary terminology, "to cook something in the style of the miller's wife;" that is, "to prepare food in a rustic way," which developed the more specific meaning of "to coat with flour and cook in butter and lemon juice." 

"Filet" is also spelled "fillet," with "fillet" being more common in modern English, although "filet" is still used at times.* This simple dish was certainly given a boost in the United States by Julia Child, who long had a television cooking show, which started well before the Food Network and a multitude of cooking shows became a regular part of television programming. This was the first dish she ate upon arriving in France in 1948, a time before she was even interested in becoming a cook.

 

Ingredients (4 servings):

 

4 sole fillets

1 teaspoon ground pepper (white or black pepper)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick of butter (1/4 pound)

1/3 to 1/2 cup flour

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 to 3 tablespoons capers

1/4 cup chopped parsley

lemon slices or wedges for garnish 

Melt half of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Put 1/3 cup flour on a plate or on some wax paper. Put each of the sole fillets into flour and press down a bit, then lightly rub the flour into the fish. Add some salt and pepper to both sides of the fillets and add the fillets to the skillet (you will likely only be able to do two fillets at a time). Saute the sole for about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove cooked fillets to a plate or platter. Add the remaining butter to the skillet over low heat, along with the lemon juice and the capers, stir and heat until the butter is totally melted and the sauce is well heated, then quickly add the chopped parsley and stir very briefly. Remove from the heat. Carefully put each sole fillet on its serving plate and put a couple of spoons full of the lemon butter and capers over the tops of the fillets (spread out the capers and parsley on the fillets). Garnish each plate with lemon slices or lemon wedges.

 

* For the history of "filet/fillet," here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/06/salmon-with-parsley-dill-pecorino-romano.html

Sole Meunière with sauteed mushrooms ...

WORD HISTORY:

Concoct (Concoction)-The main part of the prefixed word "concoct" is closely related to "cook" and to "kitchen," both Latin words borrowed into Germanic, and thus, English, and to "cuisine," another Latin-based word borrowed by English from French. The "con" part goes back to Indo European "kom," which meant, "beside, near, together," and this gave Latin both "con" and "com," with the idea of "together, with." The main part goes back to Indo European "pekwo," which seems to have meant "to ripen;" the notion being to prepare inedible raw food until it is 'ripe;' that is, ready to eat. This gave Old Italic "kekewo," and this gave Latin "coquere," meaning "to cook." The two parts gave Latin the verb "concoquere," meaning "to cook or boil together;" thus, "to prepare (usually of food, but also of thought; thus, ponder, to give extensive consideration to)," and further, "to digest" (food prepared for use by the body). The participle form of the verb was "concoctus," meaning "something made or prepared by combining ingredients or ideas," also, "digested." English borrowed the word from Latin in the 1500s, but the "digest" meaning has long since died out. The noun form "concoction" is from the Latin noun form "concoctio," which meant "things mixed together," but also, "digestion," and this Latin noun has the same history as the verb. As with the verb form, the noun was borrowed by English in the 1500s, but the "digestion" meaning didn't last long in English. Both the verb and the noun can be used in less than flattering ways in English (Examples: "Randy was late for the meeting, but he concocted some excuse for being late."  "The Bradleys served some concoction for dinner and I've been sick all day from it.")