Sole in a Lemon & White Wine Sauce with Parsley Potatoes

Sole has been the star of our lunch last Saturday. This was lemon sole in particular; not that it naturally tastes of lemon at all :-) I understand it is called that because of its shape, which is supposed to remind one of the citrus fruit. Anyways, maybe inspired by its name, I have decided to include lemon amongst the ingredients of this dish, alongside white wine, which everybody knows marries well with fish. Coating the sole with flour will establish the foundation for your sauce, which in Italy is known as "alla mugnaia", which means "millman's sauce" - because of the flour it involves. I find it a very poetic name! The parsley potatoes are a side dish I learnt from my dad; I suggest you use waxy potatoes, which better hold their shape.

INGREDIENTS (for two people)

• Two sole (trimmed, descaled and gutted)
• A heaped tablespoon of flour
• One lemon
• Half a glass of white wine
• 300 gr. of potatoes (I used baby new potatoes)
• One handful of freshly chopped parsley
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt & pepper

Start with the potatoes. Peel them (I used baby new potatoes, therefore I left the skin on), cut them in thin slices, wash them thoroughly to get rid of all the starch and dry them well. These last two steps will ensure your potatoes will get extremely crispy and delicious. Drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, add the parsley and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for about 30 minutes, or until golden and crunchy.

When the potatoes are nearly done, get you sole and coat them in flour, on both sides.

Warm up a non-stick pan on medium heat, then drizzle with olive oil, and transfer the sole in it. Drizzle some more olive oil on top, and let them cook for one minute (the flour, reacting to the olive oil, will form a tasty and crunchy caramelised crust on the skin of the fish). Squeeze in the juice of one lemon, add the white wine, some salt and pepper, cover with a lid and let it cook for a further 5 minutes. The sauce will reduce and thicken. I didn't have a pan large enough to contain both fish, so I cooked one at the time; in that case, use the juice of half a lemon and a quarter of glass of wine for each sole. Transfer the fish to a plate, pour the sauce on top, and serve with the potatoes on the side.