Roulades of Sole and Smoked Salmon

Tuesday April 1

Because Barbara hasn't been there to help, the pound of Trader Joe's nova lox has been disappearing rather slowly. So Holt found this recipe that solves the problem:
http://www.walnutgrovecookery.com/recipes_sole_roulade.htm
It's actually simple and quick to make, but the result looks and tastes exquisite.
We used TJ's frozen Dover sole fillets (defrosted and worked loose from their little buddies) as well as their nova. And instead of boring spinach, we picked the first fresh sorrel leaves (thanks, Spring!) out of the garden.

The sole fillets were little, so once they were pliable we chose six. We laid them out on a board and covered each with a layer of lox (piecework is okay) and then sorrel leaves; it needed no seasoning except for a dusting of white pepper. Then we rolled each fillet up on itself, like a tiny little jellyroll.
For each, we ripped off a larger piece of plastic wrap, laid the roulade on it, and tightly rolled it up so that no air was inside, firmly tying off the ends with twist-ties (see illustrations on the website).

Once that was done (these little things can be kept in the fridge for up to a day), we made a sauce. We didn't have the fresh mussels and prawns that the web recipe calls for, but we did have some shrimpy stock frozen from our last paella. So we melted it, added an equal amount of white wine, boiled down to concentrate, then added a hefty dollop of heavy cream and a little salt to taste, which was all it needed. (You might try a squirt of lemon at the last minute, or a little chopped fresh dill, basil, or tarragon, depending on your stock and the state of the garden.)

During the stock-concentrating step, we filled the deeper of our twelve-inch skillets with water and put it on the fire. Once it simmered, we gently set the little roulade packets in it to poach, turning them once to make sure they cooked evenly, for a total of five minutes. As soon as they were done, they came out to rest until the sauce was ready and waiting on the warmed plates. Then we carefully removed the plastic wrap and sliced them into ca. inch-and-a-half thick slices, arranging them pretty-side-up on the napped plates.
They look and taste better than a very good thing.