Baked Sole with Barley Vegetable Brunoise

I served this dish as a main entree when my Mom came for a visit. This post is basically a combination of two recipes, the fish and the barley. I decided to write both recipes in one post since they pair so well.

This recipe is a charmingly simple dish but flavourful and tasty. My recipe was adapted from Food Network's Chuck Hughes. However I adjusted mine to keep up with the availability of ingredients I had from my own pantry.

The fillet of sole was placed over a bed of barley brunoise. Barley brunoise may sound glamourized but actually it's not. Barley is a cereal grain when cooked has a pleasant chewy, pasta-like consistency. Brunoise because the vegetables added to the barley was cut into very fine small cubes. It is a culinary knife cut where you julienne food and dice it into small cubes usually 1 to 3 mm small. When making this dish, it's important that the vegetable cut is consistent in size and shape since it creates a pleasing presentation.

 

Barley is an everyday twist you can feed your family, a side you can bring to picnics, and a good alternative to potatoes, rice or pasta.

For the filet of sole 

4 filets of sole

4 tablespoons canola oil

salt and pepper

For the mustard sauce 

5 tablespoons butter

3 tbsp. olive oil
2 shallots, minced

3 tablespoons caper, minced

2 tablespoons coarse grain mustard

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper

For the barley and vegetable brunoise
5 tablespoons butter

1 cup barley

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/4 cup carrot, diced

1 red or yellow pepper, diced

2 stalk celery, diced

1 chicken cube

Directions for the filet of sole:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place sole on the tray and season both sides with oil, salt and pepper.  Cook in the oven for 8 minutes or until the fish is cooked.

Directions for the mustard capers sauce

Bring pan to medium high heat. Add olive oil. Saute the shallots until it becomes transluscent. Add capers, mustard and water. Bring to a boil and reduced by half. Add butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.

Barley and Vegetable Brunoise

Cook barley per package instructions. Rinse barley in water and drain. Mix 1 cup of barley with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once it has boiled, reduce to medium to low heat and simmer until the barley is tender and cooked. Set aside.

Bring a large pan into medium high heat. Add the butter and saute the vegetables for about 10 minutes. Add barley and the chicken cube. Season with pepper. Mix well. Cook mixture unil veggies are soft in  consistency.

Serve by plating barley topped with the sole filet and garnish with the sauce.