This simple recipe for Julia Child’s filet of sole pairs tender filet of sole with a lemony, butter sauce for the perfect seafood dinner.
Welcome to the recipe I have decided is the most perfect seafood recipe of all time, and as the story has it, the one that Julia Child created after she had one of her first glorious dinners in France.
It’s the perfect easy elegant dinner, and here’s how it made its way to my kitchen!
One of the things the Southern husband and I actually love doing together is the weekly food shopping. (I know. But we do!). I make up the menu for the week before we go, and each week the Southern husband gets to pick out one dinner that he is longing for me to make.
Some weeks he picks a throwback recipe that I have made before (last week he wanted this Irish Grilled Cheese sandwich), but if he’s asking for something new, he always makes a beeline for the seafood counter.
Usually he zooms in on the scallops or the red snapper, but one fateful weekend he picked out…filet of sole. And I drew a blank in terms of what to do with it. I’d never made filet of sole before, and couldn’t remember having had it at a restaurant.
But that’s what he wanted, and he had this face on…
…so I bought some and off we went.
(Side note: that picture is from my brand spanking new iPhone 11 Pro, and since I finally have the phone that can shoot in portrait mode I am taking portraits of anyone who will sit still.)
Even if they refuse to look in the camera.
Back at the sole, when I got it home I started searching for filet of sole recipe inspirations, and the same thing kept coming up, which is that Julia Child’s way of cooking sole was pretty much perfection.
So I hauled out my copy of The Way To Cook and after much paging around I found her recipe for Sole Meuniere, which is otherwise known as that perfect recipe of hers for filet of sole.
Here’s how you make Julia Child’s filet of sole!
You start by sprinkling the fish with a little salt and pepper, and then you cook it ever so quickly in some butter (Julia of course made clarified butter, but I just relied on my trusty Kerrygold).
The sole cooks for 2 minutes a side, and then you carefully take it out and whisk in some lemon juice and parsley and chopped parsley and more butter. Julia loved butter, and she was right.
I added a few capers because the Southern husband loves capers, and I love him…and that was it.
5 minutes of prep time, less than 10 minutes of cooking time and I had a gourmet seafood dinner on the table.
So with heartfelt admiration for the brilliant Julia Child (and if you don’t have The Way To Cook, it’s a must-have for your cookbook collection),
Bon Appetit!!
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Julia Child’s Filet Of Sole
Prep Time: 5 minutes- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 1x
Category: Dinner
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: French
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Pin RecipeDescription
This simple recipe for Julia Child’s filet of sole pairs tender filet of sole with a lemony, butter sauce for the perfect seafood dinner.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless sole filets, about 2 ounces each
- Salt and pepper
- ½ cup flour
- 8 tablespoons butter
- Juice from ½ lemon (cut the rest of the lemon into slices for garnish)
- ½ cup fresh chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons capers
Instructions
- Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides. Dredge in flour.
- Put 4 tablespoons of the butter into a large skillet over medium high heat. When the butter is melted and foamy, add the filets and cook for 2 minutes.
- Using a fish spatula or other large spatula, carefully turn the filets over. Don’t use tongs – sole filets are delicate and need to be turned with a spatula. Cook for another 2 minutes and place each one on a serving plate. Cover with foil to keep warm while you make the sauce.
- Add the rest of the butter to the skillet, along with the lemon juice and half the parsley.Whisk until the butter is melted.
- Drizzle the sauce generously over the filets, sprinkle on the capers, sprinkle with the rest of the parsley, add the lemon slices as a pretty garnish and serve!
Notes
Sole is definitely a splurge, so if it is too spendy for you, you can substitute any other kind of delicate boneless fish filet.
Hi there! I’m Kate, and I’m a recipe writer, food photographer and devoted bacon lover. I started Framed Cooks in 2009, and my mission is to create and share family-friendly recipes that make cooking both easy and fun…yes, I said FUN! My kitchen is my happy place, and I want yours to be that place too. And if you make this recipe, I would love you to tag @FramedCooks on Instagram so I can see the deliciousness!
Half the parsley in the sauce… does the rest go on top?
Yes! Thank you for catching that – I added it in. :)
Thanks for answering so quickly! I hope to make this tomorrow night.
Of course! Hope you love it as much as we do! :)
Is the flour for dredging the fish prior to cooking, or is it to thicken the sauce after adding the remaining butter?
Hi Terry and thanks for spotting this – it’s for dredging! I’ve added that to the recipe – happy cooking!
I didn’t know I could cook “French cuisine” that my very American husband would eat. *wink* This was fabulous- and I will be making it again soon. I served it atop rice pilaf (so I could use every drop of the delicious sauce) with a side of broccolini.
★★★★★
Terry! You are definitely now a French chef – what a lucky husband you have! :)