As they say in New Orleans, laissez le bon temps roulez! With that thought in mind, and some fillets of sole freshly purchased, I had in mind to roll 'em up with some marvelous ciabatta bread and fresh Italian parsley. Turned out there was a can of crabmeat in the pantry, and you know that had to be included. So...here's how it went down:
Discovered that the food processor wasn't working--bummer. Oh, well, we gots da skills here; no matter. Instead, I sliced the ciabatta bread very thinly and then threw it into a baking dish into which I'd smeared a bit of extra virgin olive oil. That went into a 250 degree oven. I had to rearrange the slices now and then, because the heat draws out moisture on the exterior pieces first, and I wanted it to be evenly dry. Once done, out it came. I used a glass cup to crush the bread into crumbs. Off to the side it went.
Next, I chopped that beautiful flat-leafed parslely fairly fine and set that aside as well.
Other veggies for the filling were a bit of onion, carrot and the last of some crimini mushrooms from the fridge, all finely chopped. I heated a skillet, added olive oil, and then sauteed those three veggies, seasoning them once they hit the heat (to season is to salt--I use kosher or sea salt). Some cracked black pepper seemed like a good plan, so I went with it. Once the onions looked opaque, I introduced the drained crabmeat, making sure it was pretty well squeezed out. We don't want those incredible bread crumbs to get soggy.
Sole is sweet, but I know I wanted to use garlic, so I had to be careful not to overpower the fish. I used a small clove, chopped finely and mashed a little with the flat of my knife, and threw that into the pan, stirring. Here's the important part. I tasted it. Tasting your food as you go is essential. Satisfied, I let it heat together a bit more and then added the bread crumbs, using a wooden spoon to keep it moving. I removed it from the heat, added the parsley, and tasted it again. It needed something slightly acid but sweet to work well with the sole, so I used the juice of a mere wedge of lime--which is sweeter than a lemon.
Now it's time for the fillets. I laid them out, seasoned them slightly, and squeezed a little more lime juice over them before patting the filling firmly onto each fillet, making sure to hold back about a third or so of the crumbs for the finale. It's not too hard a trick to roll up the fillets with their filling. Not at all. Into the same baking dish I'd used for the bread crumbs, I added a bit more olive oil and placed the roulades therein, squeezed a bit more lime juice on top--not too much--don't want the citrus to overpower it all, just liven it up--and sprankled the rest of the bread/crab filling on top of the fish rolls. I wasn't going to waste a bit of it, so when the roulades were nicely covered, I sprankled the rest of the filling right onto the bottom of the dish. Lastly, I drizzled a bit of olive oil on top of roulades, and into a 375 degree oven they went for about 12 minutes. Oven temps differ, so check them after ten minutes, like I did.
The flavor was quite delicate, yet delectable, slightly crispy due to the crumbs, but oh so tender, because they were not overcooked. This is a wonderful dish with a nice summer salad--and you certainly won't add inches to the waitline yet will be wonderfully sated! A slice of cantaloupe was the perfect dessert!
