Oven-poached Dover sole with butter and capers

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We are trying to eat more fish.

This is made easier by the fact that our local Costco always has an excellent selection of fresh fish, often wild, always sustainably farmed and caught.

Ironically, while my husband and both sons really like fish, I struggle with it. I just don't love eating it most of the time. And because I don't love eating it, I resist preparing it.

I am the Roadblock To Fish in our house.

So when I find a fish recipe I don't mind making and enjoy eating, I stick with it.

Example: these neatly rolled bundles of Dover sole bathed in a briny, buttery sauce. Relatively easy to prepare, beautiful to behold, and not bad warmed up in the microwave the next day.

Does your family like fish? What's your favorite way to prepare it? Share your fabulous fish ideas in the comments - I need inspiration!

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Oven-poached Dover sole with butter and capers

by Erika Kerekes August-27-2013

Serve these neat little rolls of Dover sole over rice or couscous to make the most of the briny, buttery sauce. An excellent main dish for a dinner party.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Dover sole fillets
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/4 cup capers
• 1/8 cup brine from jar of capers
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Spray a large baking dish (or two smaller ones) with nonstick cooking spray. Roll each piece of Dover sole into a cylinder, then place it in the baking dish with the seam down. Continue with the rest of the fillets, nestling them tightly together in the pan(s).Put the butter, capers, and caper brine in a large Pyrex measuring cup and microwave about 90 seconds, until the butter is melted. (Alternatively, melt the butter with the capers and brine in a small sauce pan on the stove.) Pour the butter mixture over the top of all the fish fillets.Bake the fish about 30 minutes, until the rolls are cooked through and the butter mixture is bubbling. The fish will release liquid as it cooks, so don't be surprised to see more liquid in the pan at the end than there was at the beginning.Serve hot over rice or couscous, spooning some of the cooking liquid and the capers over the fish on the plate.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 50 mins Yield: 8-10 servings

20 foods I wish I could buy at Costco

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I am a loyal, dedicated, tireless Costco shopper. I truly love Costco. I hit Costco once or twice a month and buy most of our meat, fish, produce, canned goods and household cleaners there.

Between Costco, the farmers' market and the family-owned neighborhood market a few blocks from our house, I can get just about everything my family needs. But not everything. So, Costco purchasing team, here's my wish list. If you stock the things below, I guarantee I will buy them on just about every trip. And I bet a lot of other folks will too.

1. Flour in smaller bags. I've tried the huge sacks and they just don't work for me. I bake a lot and probably go through at least a few pounds of flour a week. But I don't have the time to transfer 25 pounds of flour into smaller containers or zip-top bags. Have you thought about bundling a quartet of 5-pound bags together instead of selling one huge bag? I would buy those for sure. I've got plenty of room to store them in my extra Supermom refrigerator in the basement. 
2. Sugar in smaller bags. Ditto.
3. Wheat germ. I sprinkle wheat germ on oatmeal, use it to coat chicken and fish, add it to pancakes and bread dough and pizza. I really like wheat germ. A nice big 5-pound bag would be fantastic. Not the honey coated wheat germ, though - just the plain stuff.
4. Take-and-bake pizzas that actually fit in my oven. I have to cut your pizzas in half to fit them in the oven, which means I can't bake them as you suggest directly on the rack. Also, a lot of the cheese runs off on the cut side. How about two smaller pizzas packaged together?
5. Pork belly. It's a thing. 
6. Freshly sliced cold cuts. The packaged turkey breast is dry and salty. The packaged roast beef tastes funny. The packaged ham is watery. Would it be so hard to devote a corner of that huge butcher room to slicing some cold cuts fresh?
7. Kerrygold Naturally Softer butter. You had it for a while and my husband got addicted. Now it's gone and he's miserable. Please bring it back.
8. Raw whole duck. You sell chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs, fish. How about throwing a few raw ducks into the mix? I'd settle for raw duck breast. 
9. Fresh herbs. A mixed pack with parsley, cilantro, scallions, dill, tarragon, thyme and basil would fly off the shelves. I would buy it on every single trip.
10. Tanimura and Antle Artisan Romaine. This is my new favorite lettuce - it's got the taste of romaine with a superior crunch and tightly packed heads like iceberg. You sell other Tanimura and Antle lettuce already. Ask them to add this one to the mix. 
11. Really good thickly sliced bacon. I'm talking an artisan bacon, maybe applewood smoked, thickly cut. Sell it in the butcher section. It will fly off the shelves.
12. Frozen all-butter puff pastry. The kind without chemicals. It's expensive but well worth it. You could demo it in store by wrapping it around sticks of smoked sausage or baking it with a little chocolate in the middle.
13. Frozen pie crusts. Even the most avid home cooks sometimes need a leg up when it comes to pie crust. Find the best frozen one and stock it.
14. High quality dark chocolate chips. The Nestle Toll House chocolate chips are okay, but I like mine darker and less sweet. Callebaut and Valrhona make nice ones. How about 2-pound bags?
15. Unsweetened chocolate. Not the cheap "baking chocolate" I can get at the grocery store. I'm talking Belgian or French, preferably in little discs that melt easily. 
16. Unsweetened cocoa powder. Again, not the cheap grocery store stuff - we foodies need something with oomph. I like Valrhona, but that's me. Yes, it's expensive, but I'm willing to pay.
17. Whole wheat pasta. I love the six-bag bundles of Italian dry pasta, but I'm trying to feed my family whole grains as often as possible. Can't you do something similar with whole wheat pasta?
18. Frozen chopped spinach. This is the one frozen vegetable I use all the time. If you don't want to put it in big bags, how about bundling six or eight standard-size boxes together?
19. Frozen artichoke hearts. Ditto. The marinated artichoke hearts are phenomenal but sometimes I want the vegetable on its own.
20. Donuts. You already sell muffins, bread, croissants, cake, cookies and pies in your bakery. Why not donuts? Glazed, chocolate glazed, chocolate old-fashioned, frosted with sprinkles, jelly donuts...you get the idea. I'm pretty sure if you put a donut stand inside every Costco you'd see a big jump in revenues.

Thanks for listening, Costco. And let me know what I can do to help. I know people. I can hook you up.