French onion-crusted fish with anchovy butter

Onion-crusted sole with anchovy butter

Adapted from “Jacques Pepin More Fast Food My Way.” Who doesn’t like French-ish fast food?

Ingredients

1 (6-ounce) can French-fried onions

1 can (2 ounces) anchovy fillets in oil

1 large garlic clove, sliced

4 tablespoons butter at room temperature

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon white wine

1 large egg, beaten

4 sole fillets (about 6 ounces each)

3 tablespoons oil

Method

Whir French-fried onions in a food processor until a slightly chunky powder. Set aside.

Whir anchovies, garlic, butter, pepper and white wine in a food processor until creamy. (Can be made ahead and refrigerated.)

Dip fish fillets in beaten egg, then in onion powder. Cook over medium high heat in oil in a large skillet, flipping over once it’s well browned, less than 10 minutes overall, and that’s if you have thick fillets. (We used cod, and it took about 8 overall.)

Rating: The onion coating on the fish is totally cheating, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. I will now be willing to be seen buying the onions, even though they are usually associated with casseroles, aka hot dish here. The jury was divided on the anchovy butter. I like anchovies, and since it’s all whirred up, any texture considerations were removed. But I thought the sauce was simply overwhelmingly salty, even though I accidentally added more wine than was called for, which should have cut things a bit. I thought it overwhelmed the delicate fish. Dave thought it was almost salty enough and that overwhelming the fish and everything else on the plate was just fine. So views differ. But the fish coating is a winner, and easy to have on hand ready to go.