Jono & Jules do food & wine

This might just be our favourite fish dish — and honestly, we can’t believe it took us this long to realise how utterly simple it is to cook. Dover sole (also known as black sole here in Ireland) is a truly special fish: delicate, buttery, and elegant with very little effort required in the kitchen. Since subscribing to a fish box from Urban Monger, we’ve been pushed out of our comfort zone and into cooking more seafood. This recipe is a great confidence booster: classic, quick, and very satisfying.

Wine Suggestion: Such a lovely fish needs respect, so don’t skimp on quality and look for a crisp, dry white with depth and personality. We chose a Chablis from Nathalie & Gilles Fèvre which is made in stailess steel, but left on its fine lees to add texture to an already layered, pure fruited wine: white stonefruit, a lemony twist and a limestone backbone.

Dover sole à la meunière – serves 2

• 2 x 400-450g Dover soles trimmed and skinned (the ones we had were labelled black sole in Ireland but they are the same thing)
• 25g plain flour
• 4 tbsp flour
• 50g unsalted butter
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 tsp capers
• lemon wedges, to serve
• roast baby potatoes, to serve

If you need to trim the fish yourself, take a pair of scissors and cut the frilly fins and the fleshy bones off both sides. You will be removing about 4 cm off all around so you are left with just the 4 fillets on the backbone.

Season the fish with salt and white pepper, then dip both sides into the flour and pat off any excess.

Heat the oil in a non-stick for well-seasoned frying pan. Add one of the soles, lower the heat slightly and add a small piece of the butter. Fry over a moderate heat for 4-5 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and keep warm while you cook the second fish.

Pour off the frying oil and discard. Add the rest of the butter to the pan and allow to melt over a moderate heat. When it starts to smell nutty and turn brown, add the lemon juice, parsley, capers and some seasoning. Pour some of the beurre noisette over each fish and serve with the lemon wedges and some roast baby potatoes.

(Original recipe from Rick Stein’s Food Stories, BBC Books, Penguin Random House, 2024.)