Once you have the clarified butter made, the process for cooking sole meunière is simple. You salt and pepper the fish, lightly dredge it in flour, and then pan fry it in a hot pan with clarified butter for a couple of minutes per side. You finish the dish by adding capers to the butter and pouring the butter sauce over the fish.
Julia Child’s sole meunière recipe, from her Way to Cook cookbook, highlights the simplicity of the ingredients and produces a tender sole filet that is buttery and delicious. A perfect course to follow the oysters on the half shell!
The first time Julia Child ate sole meunière was in 1948 in Rouen, France where the maître d’hótel at La Couronne would have most likely prepared it for her table-side. Rumour has it this is the dish that transformed her from a person who simply loved to eat into someone who loved to cook.
This sole meunière recipe requires 5-6 tablespoons of clarified butter. When you make clarified butter you lose about a quarter of the butter you started with; so for this recipe I started with 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, so I’d end up with 6 tablespoons clarified butter.