Sole Piccata

By John, 1 November, 2020
Region
Italian American traditional
Description

This is an American dish, unknown in Italy except through American tourism. In Milan, veal gets the treatment that we think of as piccata. That's because in Italian, the word piccata means a thin escalope of meat, usually veal. It's commonly dressed with a lemon or lemon-caper sauce, and called Piccata al Limone or something similarly descriptive.

In the USA, the Italian-Americans from Lombardy served it in the traditional Milanese fashion, and restaurants would call it Veal Piccata, or escalopes of veal served in the usual way. Americans came to think of Piccata as being the sauce rather than the cut, and extended it to chicken and fish as well.   

This treatment works great for sole, too, and Lorna doesn't eat veal, so here you have Sole Piccata.

Yield
2 Servings
Preparation time
20 minutes
Ingredients
12 oz Sole Fillets
1⁄2 c Flour (seasoned for dredging)
6 T Butter (Unsalted)
1⁄2 c Dry White Wine
1 Lemon, juice of
2 T Capers (rinsed in fresh water)
1 Parsley sprig
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter in a large skillet.
  2. Dredge the sole in the seasoned flour and cook it in the butter over medium-high heat until done, just a few minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets.
  3. Remove the fillets to a warm plate.
  4. Splash the wine into the pan and stir it into the butter and flour, scraping up any bits from the pan.
  5. When the wine has boiled down a good bit, stir in the lemon juice and the rinsed capers.
  6. Dress the fish with the sauce, garnish with the parsley, and serve hot.
Notes
I usually chop up some of the zest to add to the garnish for color.