Sole Meunière with Steamed Rice & Pan-Seared Broccoli Almondine
Sole Meunière with Steamed Rice & Pan-Seared Broccoli Almondine
a mostly one pan meal that can also be made with shrimp or salmon
Living and working in the same space presents some challenges. The only change of scenery is the seasons from my desk window unless I make conscious choices daily to get out of the house. One of the bonuses working from home does offer is being able to cook a hot lunch. I’ve started blocking off time in my work calendar for lunch, both to cook it and sit down like a civilized human being and eat it.
This means when I do my grocery shopping, I’m thinking about what kind of fresh lunches I’d like to enjoy. A few weeks ago, the sole at the fish counter looked incredible, and making sole meunière popped into my mind. I made some tweaks to make the dish macro-friendly, and not blow my fat and calories for the day on butter. Julia Child would surely say I skimped on it here.
I was pleasantly surprised that I still coaxed some lovely flavor using just 2 teaspoons of butter. If you’re not tracking macros, or simply not concerned about butter amounts, feel free to up the butter to 4 teaspoons, using half to cook the fish, and the other half for the sauce. If using a regular skillet (not a nonstick one), you’ll definitely need more butter otherwise your fish will stick to the pan.
Avocado or extra virgin olive oil cooking sprays are what I tend to use for a lot of sauteing and browning in addition to an All Clad nonstick skillet. I choose to allocate my fats to more flavorsome parts of the meal, like oil in a salad dressing, or in this case butter for the sole. If you’re not tracking macros, feel free to use oil instead of cooking spray for the broccoli.
I tend to make a pot of rice at the start of the week so Virginia has some to reheat when she gets home from school, or to use as a starting point for fried rice. This is why the recipe below calls for the rice as an already cooked ingredient. Heating leftover rice in the microwave also means the rest of the dish is a one pan meal for faster clean up.
If you don’t have rice in the fridge, be sure to get that started 10 to 15 minutes before you start preparing the rest of the meal so it’ll all be ready at the same time. You can also use quinoa or cauliflower rice instead of white rice. Just keep in mind that any changes made to the recipe below will impact the nutritional information listed.
My recipe only serves one since it’s just me in the house for lunch but you can easily scale all of the ingredients up if making for 2, 3 or 4 people, etc. The only change you would need for cooking instructions is to use a large skillet. I’ve also made this recipe swapping in shrimp for the sole, and love it. You could even use salmon if you wanted.
Be well, and remember to be kind. —xo, j.
