April 18th

Old Style

The cookbook I got this from is from 1930 and it has some weird old French recipes in it.  This didn't seem to strange and according to the cookbook it only takes 10 minutes.  Well, it did turn out well, but it took me 20 minutes.  I guess I'm not quick like those 1930s home cooks were.

Filets of Sole with Mushrooms
recipe from: French Cooking in Ten Minutes by Edouard de Pomiane

My Sole filets got a little broken, so it doesn't look great in the picture, but it actually did taste good.  And, even though it took longer than ten minutes, it was still really quick and easy.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb fresh mushrooms
• butter
• 4 filets of Sole
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup white wine
• flour

Directions:

1. Place a generous tablespoon of butter in a frying pan.  When it begins to smoke, add the sole.  Brown them for 1 minute, then turn over and brown them for 1 minutes on the other side.  
2. Add the mushrooms (they'll give out water), and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  
3. Add the wine and bring to a furious boil.  The water will evaporate.  All this has taken 10 minutes. 
4. Now lower the heat and add a lump of soft butter which has been mixed with a little flour until it is smooth and creamy.  Stir it into the sauce as it melts, put everything on a platter and serve.  
5. When you turn the heat down for the last step there should be just enough liquid in the pan to make a nice sauce.  So, as you're boiling the liquid off regulate the heat to make sure it doesn't evaporate too much.

Grades:

Megan - B (It was good, but it's still fish which isn't my favorite.)

Noelle - A (Noelle seemed to really enjoy this.  She liked eating the fish and mushrooms separately and ate all the fish and most of the mushrooms.)