Saint-Pierre Meunière

Name: Saint-Pierre Meunière (John Dory with Burnt Butter)
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: Plain flour, for dusting; Salt flakes and freshly ground white pepper, to taste; 2 x 180g fillets John or mirror dory, skin on (6½oz); 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil (10ml); 60g butter (2¼oz); ½ small lemon; 2 teaspoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley; Green Salad, for serving; Baguette, for serving

Meunière is a classic French sauce especially popular with flat fish (often sole). Saint-Pierre meunière is a great example of how the most basic ingredients – in this case flour, butter, a little parsley and lemon juice – can produce the most delicious result. Something cooked à la meunière, literally ‘in the style of the miller’s wife’, is dredged in flour before being fried – because the miller’s wife always had plenty of flour on hand. The flour adds a crisp coating and a lovely golden colour as well as helping prevent the fish or meat sticking to the pan. While John dory (Saint-Pierre in French) is ideal for this recipe, its close cousin mirror dory can be used instead. The trick to making burnt butter (beurre noir in French) is to get it really dark without burning it, so be brave and push it just past the point where you think it’s done, then quickly stop the cooking with a squeeze of lemon juice. If you don’t cook it quite long enough, you’ll still end up with lovely nutty brown butter (beurre noisette).

Serves 2

Ingredients

Plain flour, for dusting
Salt flakes and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
2 x 180g fillets John or mirror dory, skin on (6½oz)
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil (10ml)
60g butter (2¼oz)
½ small lemon
2 teaspoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Green Salad, for serving
Baguette, for serving

Method

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a plastic bag.
Add the fish and shake to coat well, remove from bag and shake off any excess.
Heat oil and a third of the butter in a frying pan over medium–high heat.
Add fish, skin-side down, and cook for 2 minutes, holding it down with an egg lift or spatula for 30 seconds or so if necessary until the skin relaxes.
Turn fish over and cook the other side for a further minute or so, until well coloured.
Remove to a warmed plate, discard butter and wipe out the pan with paper towel.
Add remaining butter to the pan and place over a medium-high heat for a couple of minutes or so, shaking the pan gently so it colours evenly, until it’s a very dark brown.
Squeeze in some lemon juice, add parsley, swirl the pan for a few seconds, then pour over the fish.
Sprinkle generously with salt and serve Saint-Pierre meunière with a simple green salad and bread on the side.