Sole à la Normande Recipe | Adam Byatt

Beautifully simple and elegant sharing dish - elevated but accessible French Gastronomy. Sole à la Normande - Creamy, fish sauce, seafood and intricate fish filleting and preparation. Sole Normande 1 x 1.2kg dover sole, skinned - Scallop mousse, finished in piping bag - 2/3 oysters, scrubbed clean 200g clams, washed and free from grit 200g cockles, washed and free from grit 12/15 button mushrooms, turned/stalk removed 50g butter 4/6 prawns, deveined - 200ml double cream 200ml fish stock 200ml champagne Olive oil to dress 3 tbsp chives, finely cut - Skin the fish, remove frills making sure to remove the side cartilage, remove the head, open up the liver and clean around. Using a flexible knife, cut along the spine of the fish 1 inch from the head all the way until 1 inch of the tail. You should have a fish with a big pocket in the middle with exposed bones. Using sharp scissors, cut the bones on both sides out the centre of the fish, then using a sharp knife - go under the bones either side and run along - try to leave as much fish on the flesh and not the bone. There might be a few small bones along the edges to be aware of. Take the fish and place on a flat tray lined with non stick paper. Fill the fish with scallop mousse, you can pipe this decoratively or use a palette knife to spread over the centre. Add the alcohol and fish stock to the tray and bake at 160c for around 8/10 minutes - until the scallop mousse is just set. Remove from the oven and dot with butter, allow to rest. Take the cooking juices and add to a wide based pan, add the shellfish, mushrooms and butter. Cover with a cartouche cut to size, braise gently for 3/5 minutes until the shellfish just starts to open, remove the cartouche and add the prawns, cook gently for a further 2 minutes. Now remove all the contents of the pan and reserve. Pass the cooking liquid through a chinois if the shellfish has given off any grit. Now is the moment to do this, any later and you will not be able to change the outcome. Now reduce the cooking liquor by 3/4'rs, it needs to come down as much as possible leaving some residue in the pan. Add the double cream and bring back to a simmer, now add the shellfish garnish back to the pan and add chives. Reheat the fish if needed for 2 minutes. To Finish Plate the warm dover sole, garnish the shellfish around the fish and finish with picked chervil. Scallop Mousse 250g scallops, cleaned/dried/roe removed 1/2 egg 14g fine salt 350ml double cream - 20g chervil, chopped 20g flat leaf parsley, chopped - Blend egg with scallop until smooth. Add salt and continue to blend. Once smooth add double cream and emulsify. Scrape blender halfway through to incorporate all of the scallops into the mix. Finish with herbs and transfer to piping bag.