Bundles of Sole in Lime Butter

Wednesday April 23

We've mentioned bundles of sole before.

Now we have frozen bags of sole fillets from Trader Joe's, fresh asparagus from Findlay Market, and fresh chives from the garden. Verily, it was time.

Also Holt found a way to overcome the problem we've had with making them before, that boiled asparagus tends to give off liquid and thin the sauce. He pre-roasted the asparagus (in olive oil and a pyrex dish) at 500 degrees until it was almost tender. He took them out, let everything cool, and gently rolled 5 or 6 asparagus up in each raw sole fillet, then practicing chive bondage (see pix). Then he put the bundles back in the (not-so-searingly-hot now) pyrex pan and baked them at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the fish was opaque and flaked a little at the end.

In the meantime, he boiled down the juice of a lime with diced red onion (as for beurre blanc) and monte-ed the bejeezus out of it (added liberal amounts of butter). We wanted something light instead of the usual hollandaise. We got it, and we enjoyed it.