Sole (or Cod) with Shrimp and Scallops in Brown Butter, Lemon, and Caper Sauce, with Green Beans, Roasted Fennel, and Garlicky Spinach
Delicate wild sole (or cod), sweet seared scallops, and plump shrimp, all spooned with a nutty brown butter sauce bright with lemon, capers, and parsley. It's a classic French way with fish, served with crisp thin green beans, caramelized roasted fennel, and garlicky wilted spinach.
Yield: Serves 4 · Active: 45 min · Total: 1 hour · Year-round · Best eaten: early evening
Your Game Plan
About 1 hour out: Roast the fennel.
About 30 minutes out: Blanch the green beans, and prep the seafood.
About 20 minutes out: Sauté the spinach and finish the green beans, and keep them warm.
The last 15 minutes: Sear the seafood, make the brown butter sauce, and plate.
Ingredients
Seafood
4 wild sole fillets (about 4 oz each), or 4 cod fillets (about 6 oz each)
8 large dry-packed sea scallops, side muscles removed
12 large wild shrimp, peeled and deveined
Optional: 2 tbsp arrowroot or cassava flour, for dusting the fish
Baja Gold sea salt and black pepper
2–3 tbsp ghee, for searing
Brown butter, lemon, and caper sauce
6 tbsp grass-fed butter
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus the zest of ½ lemon
2 tbsp capers, rinsed and patted dry
3 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
Roasted fennel
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into wedges (save the fronds)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt and black pepper
Thin green beans
12 oz thin green beans (haricots verts), trimmed
1 tbsp grass-fed butter or olive oil
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
Garlicky spinach
10 oz baby spinach
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt and red pepper flakes
Squeeze of lemon
To finish: lemon wedges, fennel fronds, and flaky sea salt
Method
Roast the fennel. Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the fennel wedges with the olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast in a single layer for 25–30 minutes, turning once, until caramelized and tender.
Blanch the green beans. Cook them in salted boiling water for 2–3 minutes, until bright green and crisp-tender, then plunge them into ice water and drain.
Sauté the spinach. Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the garlic and chili flakes, and cook 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the spinach and salt, and toss 2–3 minutes, until just wilted. Finish with a squeeze of lemon, and keep it warm.
Finish the green beans. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, add the shallot for 1 minute, then toss in the green beans and salt for 2 minutes, until warmed through. Keep them warm.
Prep the seafood. Pat everything very dry; dry seafood sears best. Season it all with salt and pepper, and dust the fish lightly with arrowroot, if you like, for a delicate golden crust.
Sear the scallops. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a large heavy skillet over high heat until shimmering. Sear the scallops 1½–2 minutes per side, without moving them, until deeply golden but still tender in the center. Move them to a warm plate.
Sear the shrimp. Add a little more ghee, and cook the shrimp 1–2 minutes per side, just until pink. Move them to the plate.
Cook the fish. Lower the heat to medium-high, add the remaining ghee, and cook the fish until golden and just flaky: about 2 minutes per side for sole, or 3–4 minutes per side for cod. Sole is very delicate, so flip it gently with a wide fish spatula. Move it to warm plates.
Make the brown butter sauce. Wipe out the skillet, add the butter, and cook over medium heat, swirling, for 3–4 minutes, until it foams, turns golden brown, and smells nutty. Take it off the heat right away, and stir in the lemon juice and zest (it will sizzle), then the capers, parsley, and salt.
Plate. Arrange the fish, scallops, and shrimp on warm plates, and spoon the brown butter sauce generously over everything. Serve the fennel, green beans, and spinach alongside, and finish with fennel fronds, lemon wedges, and flaky salt.
Storage
Seafood is best eaten right away. Leftovers keep refrigerated up to 1 day; reheat gently, or enjoy them cold over greens. The roasted fennel and green beans keep up to 3 days.
Nourishment Notes
Brown butter, lemon, capers, and parsley is a classic French sauce for fish. Cooking the butter until its milk solids turn golden brown gives it a deep, nutty flavor, and the lemon and capers cut through the richness. Sole, with its delicate, sweet flesh, is the traditional fish for it, but cod works beautifully, too.
Wild sole and cod — lean complete protein, selenium, iodine, B12, and phosphorus.
Sea scallops — protein, B12, magnesium, and zinc.
Wild shrimp — protein, selenium, B12, and astaxanthin, the carotenoid behind their pink color.
Grass-fed butter and ghee — vitamins A and K2, CLA, and butyrate.
Capers — quercetin and rutin, two flavonoid antioxidants.
Lemon and parsley — vitamin C, vitamin K, and apigenin.
Fennel — anethole, potassium, vitamin C, and fiber; it's traditionally used to ease bloating.
Green beans — vitamin K, vitamin C, folate, and fiber.
Spinach — folate, magnesium, iron, and lutein, with its iron better absorbed alongside the lemon's vitamin C.
Garlic — allicin and organosulfur compounds.
For your cycle: The seafood's selenium, iodine, and zinc support thyroid health and a healthy cycle in every phase, the spinach brings iron and folate, and fennel is traditionally soothing for luteal-phase bloating.
Sourcing
Sole — wild-caught Pacific sole (petrale or Dover), from a trusted fishmonger
Cod — wild Alaskan Pacific cod (a Seafood Watch Best Choice)
Scallops — wild, "dry-packed" sea scallops, which sear beautifully, rather than "wet-packed" scallops treated with sodium tripolyphosphate, which release water and won't brown
Shrimp — wild-caught U.S. Gulf or Atlantic shrimp, with no added sodium tripolyphosphate
Fennel, green beans, spinach, shallots, garlic, parsley, and lemons — organic, from a farmers' market
Capers — salt-packed Sicilian capers, rinsed
Grass-fed butter and ghee — organic, cultured butter from 100% grass-fed cows; grass-fed ghee
Arrowroot or cassava flour (optional) — organic
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated, in dark glass
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt; Maldon for finishing
— Anna aka Food Marshall