Sogliola alla Mugnaia

And now we begin our Recipes for Lent. We actually began on Wednesday with the Escarole and Beans. Tonight I made a recipe for the Mario Batali cookbook that Chris gave me for Christmas, Molto Italiano, 327 Simple Italian Recipe to Cook At Home.

I have to tell you, cooking the recipe was easy and fast. But my favorite part of preparing dinner was when I was at the stove and turned around and saw 2 cats sitting on the table glaring at me. Not staring, glaring. I do not do a lot of cooking with fish. They did notice tonight's dinner.

From Molto Italiano, 327 Simple Italian Recipe to Cook At Home, Sogliola all Mugnaia (Sautéed Sole Miller's Style)

Ingredients-
flour for dredging

salt and pepper
2 pounds Sole Fillets
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoon minced parsley

A lemon, cut into thin wedges, for garnishing

Method-
Season the flour with salt and pepper and spread on a plate. Dredge the fish in the flour and shake off the excess.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tbsp butter with olive over medium heat until the butter foams and subsides. Add the fish and cook, turning once, until nicely golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a serving platter and cover  loosely to keep warm.
Discard the cooking fat and wipe the skillet clean. Return the skillet to medium heat and melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley, and pour over the fish. Arrange lemon wedges around the fish and serve immediately.

Cod with Peppers

This should have been Sole with Peppers but amazingly the 2 stores I went to were out of sole. So Cod was substituted. Once again a recipe for La Cucina. This comes from the Calabria region. The recipe was simple and very good. Very, very good.

Ingredients
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced (oops I forgot to add this)
3/4 lb. sweet peppers, cored, seeded and minced
1 2/3 cups chopped fresh plum tomatoes (I used a can of plum tomatoes)
2 lbs. sole, cleaned, rinsed and dried
Salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the onions and garlic until they take on color, then add the peppers and tomatoes
Cook at low heat for 15 minutes, then add the sole.
Add salt to taste, cover the pan, and cook at low heat, shaking the pan from time to time.

For dishes sides I sauteed spinach and made some minute rice.