Friday Night Menu, December 23, 2011, Flounder with Mustard Sauce

I got the new issue of Bon Appetit and as I flipped through I came across a couple pages of "French"...that's all I needed to see...Friday's menu was born.

Roasted Vegetable Tart

This could be French but it wasn't in the French section I was telling you about.  It was on the front cover and looked really good so I gave it a go.  Here it is.

Flounder with Mustard Sauce and Haricots Verts

So the recipe called for Dover Sole but my Whole Foods didn't have that fish so I got what I thought would be a substitute.  It was a good substitute but maybe much thinner because it cooked in half the time the Dover Sole would have. 

Basically you season the fish with salt and using a fine mesh sieve, dust paprika over both sides.  Cook undisturbed in a large non-stick skillet with a Tablespoon of grape seed oil heated in it.  The Dover Sole will take 3-5 minutes on each side but the Flounder takes more like 2 minutes per side.  Remove to a serving dish and serve with the mustard sauce (below).

Mustard Sauce

Bring to a simmer in a small saucepan; 3/4 cup dry white wine, 2 tsp minced shallot, 1 small sprig thyme, 1/2 small bay leaf and 1/4 tsp white wine or tarragon vinegar, transfer the mixture to a medium metal bowl and let cool slightly; meanwhile, simmer 6 Tbsp butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until foamy, skim foam from surface and discard, pour clarified butter into a small glass measure cup and keep warm; Whisk 2 large egg yolks, 1/8 tsp paprika and 1 Tbsp water into the wine mixture; set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until ribbons form, about 5 minutes, slowly whisk in butter, whisk constantly for about 2 minutes until it's well blended and fluff; remove from the heat and whisk in 1 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard, season to taste with kosher salt.

Haricots Verts were blanched ahead of time and just heated in butter, then tossed with fresh minced tarragon, parsley, shallot and garlic then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Chocolate Souffles with Chantilly Cream

So Bon Appetit had a recipe for a chocolate souffles but I wanted to follow Julia Child's recipe (just because). 

Chantilly Cream is simply heavy cream that is whipped and it's sweetened with sugar and flavored with vanilla.