Servings: 2
 
 
Baked Lemon Sole
 
Ingredients

1½ lb fish fillets (sole, flounder)

30 ml (2 tbsp) fresh parsley, chopped

1 lemon (6 wedges)

15 ml (1 tbsp) oil

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

15 ml (1 tbsp) lemon juice


 
1. In bottom of shallow baking or broiling pan, spread oil, lemon juice, and pepper.
2. Swish fish around in pan, coating both sides. Sprinkle with parsley.
3. Broil 3-4 minutes on each side or until edges are browned.
4. Serve with lemon wedges and sprinkle with salt or additional lemon and pepper.


 
Now, I’m no Gaston Gourmet and I doubt I ever will be. This year was the first that I didn’t have my mom or a residence cafeteria staff cooking my meals. Initially, I would whip up a colossal vat of tuna-macaroni salad that could feed the Imperial Russian Army for a week. I would then proceed to eat nothing else until the bowl had been licked clean.
 
Meanwhile, my kitchen-savvy roommates sat down come dinnertime with their perfectly balanced meals laid out before them. I guess they rubbed off on me because I recently tried the adventurous and chic lemon-roasted sole.
Seafood is notoriously expensive. However, when bought on sale, those omega-3 packed fillets don’t have to lighten your already exhausted student wallet. I chose the even thriftier route of using my roommate’s ingredients. In exchange, I cooked her dinner too. Visions of food poisoning and stomach pumping zipped through my head and I secretly hoped that she wouldn’t later regret the trade.
 
The recipe told me to defrost the frozen sole in the fridge for a couple hours. Instead, I used the ultimate student kitchen must-have, my trusty microwave.
 
Sole falls apart easily, and with a missing spatula, flipping it was messy. I eventually found success using two butter knives. It may not be elegant, but it was effective. My roommate would periodically come in to check my progress. I assured her that yes, I washed my hands. Yes, with soap.
 
After an extra minute on each side, judgment time had come. I slowly pulled it out.
 
The sole shrunk from its original size and the edges didn’t pleasantly brown as promised, but it was still scrumptious. While my essential diet of Cup-a-Soup and peanut butter toast probably won’t change, maybe next time I’ll try something even more daring, like casserole.
 
(3.5 out five stars)