Friday, August 28, 2026 Sautéed Sole Fillets with Herbs and Bread Crumbs
Here’s our weekly meal plan for this week:
Every normal shopping day, we pick up a (F)ish (O)f (O)pportunity (F.O.O) and a (S)ide (O)f (O)pportunity (S.O.O). Well, two weeks ago, we were hoping for sole meunière, but the fillets were way too thick for that, so we looked at America’s Test Kitchen’s Baked Sole Fillets with Herbs and Bread Crumbs and thought we could modify it for pan sautéing thick fillets and it worked!
What we did was to prepare the herb topping and add about half of it to the toasted bread crumbs once they’re off heat and then sprinkled the rest on after plating the fish. We also reduced the amount to about 2/3 since we had two larger fillets instead of 6 small ones:
2 3/8” or so thick sole fillets, we used petrale sole, which is considered a premium fish
1.5 Tbsp minced fresh italian parsley leaves
1.5 Tbsp minced fresh chives (harvested from the ones near the front porch)
1 Tbsp minced fresh tarragon leaves (this is more than they call for, but we like tarragon)
1 tsp lemon extract (we find that lemon zest is gritty)
5+ Tbsp unsalted butter cut into pieces
2 tsp prepared garlic
2+ tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
lemon wedges for serving
The mise en place. As you can see, the fillets are actually 1/2” thick in places. The near one has a really thin section folded over so that it won’t cook too fast.
First part of the cooking, the bread crumbs and part of the herbs.
Applying the mustard and finishing the cook.
Wow! Quality Control was enthusiastic about the fish!
Dinner is served! We baked up a couple of Whole Foods frozen croisants for the S.O.O, which are exactly the same as they bake themselves. Only a few stores offer them.
In the middle is a wonderful Colorado Pallisades peach. I wonder what nut thought - “Wow, I’ll take this peach that does so well in Georgia and put it on the west slope of the Colorado Rockies! Yep, that’ll work!” Amazingly enough, it did.
The wine is one of our favorite Reislings, Lossen Bros. Dr. L 2023. Their description is perfect:
It embodies the delicate and racy style that is characteristic of Riesling grown in the slate-soil vineyards of the Mosel valley. And, best of all, it delivers this uniquely delicious and invigorating taste at a very affordable price for every day enjoyment. It is a bright, refreshing, fruit-driven wine, with a juicy mid-palate and a crisp, drying finish.