This is another invention of the great Auguste Escoffier and was named not after a particular Véronique but after a comic opera of that name. I wouldn’t be surprised if this graced the Crawley table at Downton—Mrs. Patmore surely could have whipped this up for 20 with just a little notice. Véronique is what you call the sauce, which is heavy cream and wine, common enough, but also the addition of grapes. There are very few non-eastern Mediterranean recipes that call for cooking with grapes, and this might be the most famous.

It’s been a while since I made this so when the mood struck recently I went online and the first hit that comes up—five stars!—is offered by Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket chain. OK, let’s go with that, I thought. This seems a little fussy but it’s vaguely what I remembered doing so oops, I did it again. It’s pretty light and summery, you don’t fill or stuff the sole with anything, you just pour on your grape-friendly sauce.

With sole being as scarce as it is I recommend you do what I did and use flounder. And it’s not like the Brits are eating sole three nights a week. Thanks to overfishing and ongoing post-Brexit fishing rights disputes with France even the Tesco website says that “sole may not be available at all locations.” 

Notice that this recipe feeds six so scale down if you want. It tells you to slice each skinned fillet in half down the middle (so mouth to tail, but your skinned sole will be headless and tailless, with any luck) and serve three of the halves to each person. That’s also fussy. One slightly larger fillet per person is easier to deal with.

Ingredients:

125g (4oz) white grapes
9 lemon soles fillets, skinned
30g (1oz) butter, plus extra for frying
small bunch fresh tarragon
300ml (1/2 pint) vermouth or dry white wine
2 tbsp Tesco Finest plain flour [this is just white four]
200ml Tesco Finest extra thick double cream [use the best, most fat-laden whipping cream you can find]
100ml (3 1/2fl oz) milk
squeeze of lemon juice

Method:

Place the grapes into a bowl, pour over boiling water and leave for 1 minute. Refresh in cold water and slip off the skins using a small sharp knife and cut in half lengthways. Place into a bowl, cover and chill until needed.

Cut each sole fillet in half lengthways, season well and then roll up tightly keeping the skinned side inside. [Be careful. Your sole/flounder might be a little flaky. You can hold your rollup in place with a toothpick or two. I didn’t have to do this because my flounder fillets were on the thin side.]

Melt a little butter in a large frying pan, place the rolled fillets into the pan with 2 sprigs of tarragon and then pour over the vermouth or wine.

Place the pan over a medium heat and bring up to simmering point, cover and poach for 3–4 minutes.

Transfer the sole to a warm serving dish and cover lightly with foil. Place the fish poaching liquid [the liquid from your frying pan] over a high heat and let it bubble until it has reduced to one third of its volume.

Preheat the grill to high. [grill = broiler here]

Melt butter in a small saucepan, add the plain flour and stir to make a smooth paste. Cook for 2 minutes over a low heat to cook out the flour and then gradually add the reduced poaching liquid, the double cream and milk whisking until it is all incorporated and you have a light sauce the thickness of single cream [like American half and half, at the very least.].

Season with a little salt and black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Loosen with a little warm water if the sauce is too thick.

Pour the sauce over the poached fish, scatter with the prepared grapes and place under the grill for 3–4 minutes or until it is golden brown on top. Scatter with a little more chopped tarragon. Serve 3 sole fillets per person.