4 Simple Sole Recipes

Seared Sole With Lime Sauce
Photo:

© Fredrika Stjärne

Sole is a type of flatfish that's prized for its sweet, delicate — never fishy — flavor, something like tilapia crossed with cod. Its firm, meaty flesh can be salted like a steak, and while it does become flaky and tender when cooked, it's difficult for it ever to get mushy. There's lots of discussion about what is and isn't actually sole fish, but it's worth noting that in the United States, the fish that we call sole are really different types of flounder. Thankfully, the semantics matter little, as there isn't much difference between flounder and true sole when it comes to cooking and eating!

Cleaning and cooking sole is not a difficult task; it can be grilled, baked, fried, or pan-broiled. Make a simple stovetop preparation with brown butter and thyme, or try a grey sole recipe in which fillets are baked in a rich, herbed wine sauce for a satisfying supper. Here are four of our favorite ways to cook sole.

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Brown Butter Sole with Herb Salad

Brown Butter Sole with Herb Salad
© John Kernick

This elegant dish from Bryan and Michael Voltaggio is incredibly simple: Sauté with butter and thyme and serve with a fresh side salad in a half hour. If your fishmonger doesn't have smaller grey sole fillets, buy two larger 8- to 10-ounce fillets and halve them crosswise.

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Sole Fillets with Herbed Wine Sauce

Sole Fillets with Herbed Wine Sauce
© Oddur Thorisson

A simple vermouth and herb-spiked cream sauce is incredibly delicious over tender, flaky pieces of fresh sole in this 45-minute recipe from Mimi Thorisson.

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Seared Sole with Lime Sauce

Seared Sole With Lime Sauce
© Fredrika Stjärne

This quick Thai-inspired sauce is a weeknight miracle for any flaky white fish. You'll have sauce and sauteed sole in 15 minutes. Los Angeles chef Kuniko Yagi prefers making the sauce with spicy Thai bird chiles; for less fire, you can remove the seeds or substitute serranos.

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Grilled Whole Flatfish with Lemon-Herb Butter

Grilled Whole Flatfish with Lemon Herb Butter
Greg DuPree

Robin Bashinsky shares how to grill the fresh fish whole from cleaning and drying it to serving it with a simple lemon-herb butter.

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