I first cooked this dish at catering college fourty odd years ago then an American lady Nancy McLarty at Le Caprice who was an annual visitor always requested it. It doesn’t crop up on menus these days so this is a nostalgic dish from the past. Depending on the size of the sole fillets you can fold them in half before cooking.
4 lemon sole fillets, folded
1 large shallot, peeled, halved and finely chopped
60ml dry vermouth
50ml double cream
125g unsalted butter, diced
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
16-20 seedless grapes, peeled and halved
Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas mark 5.
Scatter the shallots in an ovenproof pan, place the folded fish on top, season and pour over the vermouth. Cover and cook in the oven for about ten minutes until the fish is just cooked. Remove the fish from the pan and keep warm. Add the cream to the pan and bring to the boil then whisk in the butter and season to taste.
To serve, place the fish on a plate, spoon over the sauce and scatter on the grapes.
