Sautéed Fish Fillets Meunière with Sauce Grenobloise

Recommended side dish: buttered green beans and roasted potatoes tossed with parsley

Makes 4 servings
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Total preparation time: 40 minutes

IngredientsFour 6-ounce pieces, skinless, mild-flavored fish fillets, such as trout, tilapia or catfish
2 cups milk
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Grenobloise Sauce (recipe below)

Directions
1. Cover the fish with the milk, cover, and chill for at least 30 minutes. Spread out the flour in a pie plate lined with wax paper or parchment.
2. Drain the fish, discarding the milk. Season the pieces with salt and pepper to taste. Heat the oil in a large nonstick or stick resistant skillet over moderately high heat. Toss the 4 fillet pieces in the flour, lifting the wax paper on both sides to move the fish around; shake off the excess flour. Place the pieces in the skillet and sauté them, turning once, for 3 minutes per side, or until they are golden and almost cooked through. Transfer the fillets to dinner plates and cover them with foil to keep them warm. Make the grenobloise sauce in the same skillet you cooked the fish. Spoon some of the sauce over each portion and serve.

 

Sauce Grenobloise
Ingredients
1 lemon
2 – 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons drained brined capers
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Directions
Remove the peel and pith from the lemon with a serrated knife and cut the lemon into sections.

Add the butter to the same skillet that the fish was cooked; cook, stirring, until it turns a deep brown and smells nutty, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon pieces, capers, and parsley; swirl skillet to combine. Spoon sauce over fish. Serve immediately.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

When I mentioned on the show that Julia flunked the first final at the Cordon Bleu because she couldn’t remember the recipes. I did not mean to suggest that she hadn’t studied hard (because wow, she studied and practiced so hard). She studied the techniques, not the specific recipes that ended up being on the test, which is why she did not do so well when she took the exam the first time.

What is the difference between black, white and green peppercorns?

All three are produced from the berry of the flowering vine of the plant piper nigrum. Green peppercorns are harvested earliest, when the berries have not yet ripened. The unripe green berries are preserved in one of two ways. They can be brined in salt-water or vinegar or freeze-dried to preserve their delicate color and robust flavor. Green peppercorns are available in whole form.

For black pepper, the berries are picked while still green, allowed to ferment and are then dried until they shrivel and turn a brownish black color. They are sold whole and ground. (Please always buy them whole, they lose their flavor when they are ground. You want to grind them at the last minute)

White pepper berries are harvested when they are fully mature and turn yellow/red. The dark outer skin of the pepper fruit is removed by soaking before the seed is dried. White peppercorns are also sold whole and ground. White pepper is a key ingredient in many Chinese recipes.