Fillet of John Dory or Brill with Pears, Leeks and Noilly Prat Sauce
In the continuing series of Saturday Night Dinner Dates with my pretty girlfriend Carolyn, we drew from our favorite Irish cookbook, My Wild Atlantic Kitchen. A great find from our trip to the Emerald Island earlier this year. Tonight’s meal is Fillet of John Dory or Brill with Pears, Leeks and Noilly Prat Sauce.
Of course, John Dory or Brill are not common items at the Colonial Beach Food Lion. But I googled Brill and found a picture of a fish that looked like a flounder. Since I had a Fredericksburg errand to run on Friday (my Rav4 finally has VA plates!) I swung by Publix and picked of some fresh flounder.
I halved the recipe, but below is the full recipe.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Fish:
• 4 John Dory or brill fillets
• 2oz Kerrygold butter
• 3oz leeks, julienned
• 2 pears, cored and cut into batons with lime juice to prevent oxidation
• 4 tbsp Noilly Prat (Vermouth, or a dry white wine works too)
Noilly Prat Sauce:
• 1 ozbutter
• 2oz shallots, finely chopped
• 2oz leeks, white part only, finely chopped
• 2fl oz fish stock (any stock could work
• 2oz Noilly Prat
• 2fl oz cream
• 1 oz port (I used a Cabernet)
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan then add the shallots and leeks, cover and sweat for 10 minutes over a-gentle heat, stirring occasionally. Add the fish stock and Noilly Prat and bring to the boil over a high heat, then turn down to a medium heat and reduce by half. Remove from the heat. Using a hand blender, blitz the liquid until the shallots and leeks are smooth. Return to the heat, add the cream and port and bring to the boil over a high heat, stirring continuously. Turn down to a medium heat and gently simmer the sauce to a coating consistency. Season to taste and set aside.
Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the julienned leeks for 1 minute, then immediately remove and refresh in ice-cold water.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lay out four large square pieces of foil and place each fillet on a sheet, skin side down. Season with salt and pepper and then dot over the butter on each fillet and arrange the pears and leeks on top. Pour 1 tbsp Noilly Prat over the pears and leeks for each fillet. Fold up the sides of each foil square and loosely wrap and seal. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets or until starting to flake with pressure.
Open the foil parcels and pour off the juices into the Noilly Prat sauce. Stir and warm the sauce over a gentle heat. Serve the fish with the pear, leeks, new baby carrots and a generous spoonful of the Noilly Prat sauce.
I roasted some seasoned carrots in the oven as a side.
