The Wedding: Crab Stuffed Flounder with Fresh Asparagus and Homemade Hollandaise Sauce

Throughout most of The Wedding, Wilson Lewis has been helping his wife Jane and his daughter Anna prepare for Anna's wedding, which happens to be planned for Wilson and Jane's thirtieth wedding anniversary. Wilson has been in charge of getting his father-in-law's home ready for the event. (Click here for more about Wilson and Jane.) The night before the wedding, Wilson plans a surprise anniversary dinner for Jane. He arranges for a limo to pick up Jane and bring her to the house where he has dinner and a romantic evening planned. When Jane arrives, not only does she find the house all decked out for a wedding, she also finds a photo album full of pictures of the two of them that Wilson has collected from friends and family members, along with a love note apologizing for not being a good husband and professing his undying love for her. Wilson has prepared a delicious seafood dinner that they will eat by candlelight.

This isn't the first time someone has prepared crab-stuffed sole in one of Nick's books; it's the third. The first time it was in A Bend in the Road, when Miles prepared it for his wife, Missy, shortly before she died tragically after being struck by a car. (Yeah, I know; nauseatingly melodramatic, right? I love that stuff, SO THERE. Anyway, click here for my crab-and-shrimp stuffed halibut I made in honor of that one.) The second time it was Julie who made it for Mike in The Guardian. I decided not to make that meal because I knew this one would be coming up soon; and if you thought A Bend in the Road was dripping with melodrama, wait until you read The Wedding. Besides, Wilson's sole is much more blog-worthy than Julie's.

Here's what I prepared:

CRAB STUFFED SOLE

Ingredients
• 1 cup soft bread crumbs (I used a half cup dry gluten-free rice crumbs)
• 1 cup cooked or canned crabmeat - drained, flaked and cartilage removed
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• dash cayenne pepper
• 4 (4 ounce) sole fillets
• 3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine, divided (optional)
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• grated Parmesan cheese
• Sliced almonds

Directions
1. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, crab, onion, egg, salt and cayenne. Spoon onto fillets; roll up and secure with a toothpick. Place in a greased 2-qt. broiler-proof dish; drizzle with 2 tablespoons butter. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees Ffor 25-30 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
2. Meanwhile, for sauce, place remaining butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Drain liquid from baking dish. Spoon sauce over fillets; sprinkle with cheese and almonds. Broil 5 in. from the heat until cheese is melted and almonds are lightly browned. Discard toothpicks. (Source: AllRecipes.com)

I picked up these lovely flounder filets at a local fish market.

I had a little bit of a dilemma, because the filets had the skin attached, and I didn't want to roll them like the recipe suggested with the skin on. I tried taking the skin off of one of them, but called it quits because I was afraid of tearing the filet to pieces in the process. Instead I opted to lay the filets flat and top them with the stuffing.

I left the cheese off of one of them, since Moe is allergic to dairy. And I forgot to buy almonds, so I had to leave those off. It was unanimously decided that these were much better than the stuffed halibut I had made previously. Definitely worth making again.

---------------------------------------------

I've only used Hollandaise sauce on Christmas morning, when I make our traditional breakfast of Eggs Benedict; and even then I always make it from a powdered mix. This time I decided to have a go at making it myself. I pulled out my very first cookbook, and my favorite for a long time:

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

Melt slowly and keep warm:

1/2 cup butter

Barely heat:

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, dry sherry or tarragon vinegar

Have ready a small saucepan of boiling water and a tablespoon with which to measure it when ready. Place in the top of a double boiler over--not in--hot water:

3 egg yolks

Beat the yolks with a wire whisk until they begin to thicken. Add:

1 tablespoon boiling water

Beat again until the eggs begin to thicken. Repeat this process until you have added:

3 more tablespoons water

Then beat in the warm lemon juice. Remove double boiler from heat. Beat the sauce well with a wire whisk. Continue to beat while slowly adding the melted butter and:

1/4 teaspoon salt

a few grains of cayenne

Beat until the sauce is thick. Serve at once.

(From the 1995 edition of The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker, p.358)

Except for having a little too much lemon juice, the sauce turned out well and was surprisingly easy to make. Except for one thing--when it got too cold I decided to warm it up in the microwave. Big mistake: it curdled. It still tasted good, though, especially drizzled over the fresh local asparagus I had picked up at the farmer's market the day before. Curly even enjoyed some on his fish.

I decided to pull out our WEDDING dishes and our WEDDING crystal for the champagne (I had one two-serving bottle left over from New Years' and decided to crack it open since it was part of Wilson and Jane's dinner, too.) I only wished I had brought out a nice tablecloth instead of these horribly ugly placemats.

How did Wilson and Jane like their dinner, you ask? Well, Jane was so overwhelmed with love after reading Wilson's gushy letter and seeing his thoughtful gift, and Wilson was so overcome with desire seeing her in the slinky dress he had bought for the occasion, that they spent the rest of the evening upstairs in one of the bedrooms. They never ate the meal, and Wilson threw it out the next day. Needless to say, their rocky marriage was mended that night.

Up next, the final WEDDING post: Cake!

A Bend in the Road: Stuffed Halibut, Fruited Rice Pilaf and Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

A Bend in the Road is the story of Miles, a grieving widower with a young son; and Sarah, a divorcee who is new in town and is Miles' son's teacher. Miles' deceased wife, Missy, is very much a part of this saga as well. Four years earlier Missy was struck by a hit-and-run driver while out jogging. Miles spends much of his free time trying to find out who was driving the car, and his obsession with finding Missy's killer (and just wait until you find out who it was--if you love drama, this is right up your alley) sometimes causes some, um, tension in Miles' romance with Sarah. It affects his relationship with his son, Jonah, too, for that matter. Anyway, one night after a particularly unpleasant argument with Sarah, Miles and Jonah are sitting together watching home movies. Jonah barely remembers his mom, and as the two are chatting and reliving some of their last days with her, Miles remembers the last romantic dinner he and Missy shared together: a home-cooked Valentine's Day meal of sole stuffed with shrimp and crab, spinach salad, and wild rice.

As I've been re-reading these books, I'm noticing certain trends in what people enjoy eating. Hush puppies and sweet tea are a common fare (often ordered when they visit a favorite diner or seafood joint), and whenever anyone cooks seafood, they stuff it with crab meat. (At least in the ones I've reread so far, except for The Notebook--in that one Noah just goes for the crabs. Must be one of Nick's favorites, which is good because it's one of ours, too.) I didn't even know what sole was--except that it's a fish, at least I knew that much--and when I started looking around I discovered it isn't easy to find. A quick Google search told me that it's a bottom-dwelling saltwater flatfish, similar to flounder. That's good, I thought, because you can get flounder almost anywhere. When I took a trip to my favorite grocery store that has everything, guess what? No sole OR flounder. Not even frozen. When I asked the guy at the fish counter (at the gi-normous store that has everything, mind you, and I mean everything.), he said that they did have some frozen halibut in one of the cases, and that was a lot like flounder and sole, only better. I took his word for it and brought some home. Here's the recipe I used:

STUFFED FILLET OF SOLE (OR HALIBUT, OR FLOUNDER...)

sole fillets (5-6 large, 10-12 small)
4 tbs. butter, melted salt and pepper

Stuffing:

4 tbs. butter
1 med. onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/2 lb. mushrooms, chopped
1 med. red or green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbs. flour
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup cream or milk
12 oz. crabmeat or shrimp (or 6 oz. crab and 6 oz. shrimp)
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
1 egg (slightly beaten)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 13x9 baking dish with non-stick pan spray. Brush fillets with melted butter.

Stuffing:

Saute onion,celery, pepper, garlic and mushrooms in melted butter until tender. Blend in flour. Add wine and cream and stir until thick. Remove from heat. Add remaining ingredients (except Paprika) and mix well. Stuff fillets with about 3 tablespoons of stuffing (for large fillets, place on one side and fold over; for small fillets, place on one fillet and top with another fillet), press edges together to seal. Sprinkle with paprika and bake covered 25 minutes. Serves 5-6.
(source) (Note to self: Next time you cook fish, transfer it to a platter BEFORE taking the photo. It will look much more appetizing.)

I only had a few halibut filets, so I sliced them most of the way through and put the stuffing in between the top and bottom part. Since Moe is allergic to dairy, I left out the Parmesan cheese and then right before popping them into the oven I sprinkled the cheese over all but one of the pieces of fish. Joe and I loved it. The kids weren't all that impressed, but then again they prefer their fish breaded and deep-fried.

************************************

I've never prepared wild rice before, unless you count Rice-A-Roni. I figured my trusty grocery store that has everything would have some, but all the wild rice I could find was combined with other types of rice. After much browsing and pondering, I selected a jar of Rice Select Royal Blend, a mixture of white, brown, red, and wild rice, and cooked it using this recipe:

Fruited Wild Rice Pilaf

Ingredients
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 1/4 cups hot water
• 3/4 cup uncooked wild rice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
• 1 red apple, chopped
• 2 tablespoons toasted, chopped pecans(Since Moe is allergic to nuts, I left these out. I had forgotten to pick up pecans, and I had some mixed nuts on hand; I stirred some up in my own serving.)
• 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel

In a large saucepan, saute onion and celery in butter until tender. Stir in the water, rice and bouillon; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 50-55 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Remove from the heat; fold in apple, pecans and lemon peel if desired. (source)

I had to modify the cooking time, since the instructions on the rice called for only 15 minutes of cooking. I think it's a parboiled variety, kind of like Minute Rice. Whatever--it was delicious.

*****************************

Ever since I've started this blog, my kids have done two things:

1. Rolled their eyes and reminded my how insane I am every time I announce that we're having something from a Nicholas Sparks book. And when I start taking pictures, it's "Geez, mom, must you really take PICTURES of the FOOD? Quit messing with your plate and let's eat already!" Or something along those lines.

2. Asked me could I PLEASE use a recipe by Alton Brown? According to them, he's the king of TV chefs. So may I present Alton's Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing:

Ingredients

• 8 ounces young spinach
• 2 large eggs
• 8 pieces thick-sliced bacon, chopped
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large white mushrooms, sliced
• 3 ounces red onion (1 small), very thinly sliced

Directions

Remove the stems from the spinach and wash, drain and pat dry thoroughly. Place into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Place the eggs into an electric kettle and cover with cold water by at least 1-inch. Turn the kettle on. Once the water comes to a boil, the kettle will turn itself off. Leave the eggs in the water for 15 minutes. Remove and peel off the shell. Slice each egg into 8 pieces and set aside. (Side note: Couldn't he just have said "Boil the eggs in water for 5 minutes"? How many people have an electric kettle anyway, or even HEARD of one?)

While the eggs are cooking, fry the bacon and remove to a paper towel to drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the rendered fat. Crumble the bacon and set aside.

Transfer the fat to a small saucepan set over low heat and whisk in the red wine vinegar, sugar and Dijon mustard. Season with a small pinch each of kosher salt and black pepper. Add the mushrooms and the sliced onion to the spinach and toss. Add the dressing and bacon and toss to combine. Divide the spinach between 4 plates or bowls and evenly divide the egg among them. Season with pepper, as desired. Serve immediately. (source)

I was a little skeptical about putting warm dressing on crisp spinach leaves (especially since it was made with BACON GREASE, for goodness' sake), but all my doubts disappeared when I took a bite. Amazing. And so easy you wouldn't believe it.

We had some leftover stuffing, and I'll tell you what I did with THAT in a future post. Stay tuned! Next up I'll revisit The Rescue and tell you about the venison dinner I finally conjured up the courage to attempt. That one was definitely interesting!