The second Alex Guarnaschelli entry in this book. She has now beaten Bobby with lobster Newberg and sole almondine — both of them old-school French dishes that no chef under fifty cooks anymore and that, when she cooks them, you remember why anyone ever did.
Sole almondine is a clarified-butter dish. The fish gets a light dredge in seasoned flour, sautéed in butter foamed almost to brown but not quite. The almonds toast in the same pan after the fish comes out, the butter goes nutty, a squeeze of lemon hits the heat and lifts the whole thing into vapor. Guarnaschelli runs Butter in New York, which is a place named after the ingredient she just out-cooked Bobby with. Twice.
He admitted, the first time, that he had not made the dish in twenty years. The second time, he did not say.
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