This dish will make a serious impression during your dinner parties. The flavour combination is amazing: sole, fennel and beetroots. The beetroots are salt-baked; so make sure you start early or make them a day earlier as they need about 2,5 hours in the oven. But it’s so rewarding: they’ll be incredibly flavoursome! I add a bit of rosemary to the salt, but you can substitute it with thyme or another herb for extra flavour. And then you have the amazing (and simple) sauce: creamy and fishy with a touch of fennel. It’s just SO GOOD!

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-sized beetroots
  • 500 gr salt
  • 1 teaspoon rosemary
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 fennel
  • 1 teaspoon butter
  • 1 cube fish stock
  • 250 ml double cream
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 5 black pepper corns
  • 2 soles, filleted
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven at 190ºC.
  2. Clean the beetroots thoroughly. Roughly chop the rosemary and mix them with the salt and egg white.
  3. Cover an oven tray with baking parchment. Spread a layer of the salt mixture in the middle. Place the beetroots on top and cover completely with the rest of the salt. Make sure you don’t leave holes open.
  4. Bake the beetroots 2,5 hours.
  5. Break the salt crust open, remove the baked beetroots and peel them.
  6. Prepare the fennel. Remove the green tops of the fennel and the hard center. Shop it in thin slices.
  7. Heat the butter in a pan and cook the fennel on medium heat until completely soft. Season to taste with a bit of salt and pepper.
  8. For the sauce, dissolve the stock cube in hot water, bring to a boil with the fennel seeds and peppercorns and reduce by half.
  9. Add the cream and reduce again by half. Strain and set aside.
  10. Brush the sole filets with olive oil and season them with salt and pepper. Place them one next to each other in an oven dish.
  11. Bake them under the oven grill, about 7 minute.
  12. Slice the beetroots.
  13. If needed, warm up the sauce and blitz it with a mixer or in a blender to get a creamy and airy texture.
  14. To serve, scoop the fennel on a plate, place the beetroot slice next to it and top with the sole filets. Drizzle a bit of the sauce and enjoy!