Ingredients
Serves 6
3 Lbs Local Petit Halibut, pin boned and trimmed
12 Oz French Style Butter
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Tspn Fine Sea Salt
1/2 Tspn White Pepper
1 1/2 Lbs Green Grapes
2 Cups White Wine (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, or Viognier)
4 Oz Shallots, peeled and minced fine
3 Oz Ver Jus
6 Oz Grape Seed Oil
2 Each Heads of Frissee Lettuce
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Cooking Instructions
First pick, clean, and dry the grapes. The charring of the grapes can be done two ways. The first way is to preheat the broiler in your oven. Lightly coat the grapes in vegetable oil, place the on a sheet pan and put into the oven on the top rack. Watch closely because we don’t want to cook the grape just char its skin. Shake the pan a couple of times during cooking so as to get all sides. Then lightly oil the grapes again and place them on a sheet pan. Use a cooking torch to char the skins on the grapes. Lay a towel on a sheet pan, place the charred grapes onto the towel, top with another towel and gently roll the grapes to remove the excess charred skin. Set aside.
Buerre Blanc: Using a 1 quart saucepan, heat the pan on a medium flame; place a tablespoon of the grape seed oil, then the minced shallot and sauté for a minute or two (not browning the shallot). Now add the two cups of white wine and reduce over a medium high flame until the wine is ¼ inch from the bottom of the pan. Add ¼ cup of heavy cream and reduce by half using a whisk to stir and scrape the flavor from the sides of your pan. Cube 8 ounces of the butter, remove the sauce from the flame and stir the butter in until completely incorporated. Add the charred grapes and set aside in a warm place.
Pick the white leaves from the center of the frissee lettuce and place them in a bowl and set aside.
Preheat a non-stick skillet over medium flame. Mix the flour with the sea salt and the white pepper in a bowl and pour onto a sheet pan. Lightly dust the sole in the flour. Raise the flame under the sauté pan to medium high, add two ounces of the grape seed oil and 1 ounce of the butter (do not let the butter brown) place the floured sole into the pan and cook for three minutes on one side and turn cooking again for three minutes.
Remove the sole and place it on a serving plate. Toss the salad with a small amount of the grapeseed oil and the ver jus and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place the salad on the serving plate with the sole and ladle the Buerre Blanc with the charred grapes onto fish. Serve.
