Fish of the Week - Sole

Sole is a group of flatfish belonging to several families. Generally speaking, they are members of the family

The common sole (or Dover sole) 

Soleidae, but, outside Europe, the name sole is also applied to various other similar flatfish, especially other members of the sole suborder Soleoidei as well as members of the flounder family. In European cookery, there are several species which may be considered true soles, but the common or Dover sole Solea solea, often simply called the sole, is the most esteemed and most widely available.


The word sole in English and French comes from its resemblance to a sandal, Latin solea. In other languages, it is named for the tongue, e.g. German Seezunge, Hungarian nyelvhal, Italian sogliola, Spanish lenguado, Turkish dil.
A complete list can be found using Fishbase's search function. They include:
* In the sole suborder Soleoidei:
* The true soles, Soleidae, including the common or Dover sole, Solea solea. These are the only fishes called soles in Europe.
* The American soles, Achiridae, sometimes classified among the Soleidae.
* The tonguefishes or tongue soles, Cynoglossidae, whose common names usually include the word 'tongue'.
* Several species of righteye flounder in the family Pleuronectidae, including the lemon sole, the Pacific Dover sole, and the petrale sole.





The true sole, Solea solea, is sufficiently broadly distributed that it is not considered a threatened species; however, overfishing in Europe has produced severely diminished populations, with declining catches in many regions. For example, the western English Channel and Irish Sea sole fisheries face potential collapse according to data in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
Sole, along with the other major bottom-feeding fish in the North Sea such as cod, monkfish, and plaice, is listed by the ICES as "outside safe biological limits." Moreover, they are growing less quickly now and are rarely older than six years, although they can reach forty. World stocks of large predatory fish and large ground fish such as sole and flounder were estimated in 2003 to be only about 10% of pre-industrial levels. According to the World Wildlife Fund in 2006, "of the nine sole stocks, seven are overfished with the status of the remaining two unknown."
In 2010, Greenpeace International has added the common sole to its seafood red list. "The Greenpeace International seafood red list is a list of fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries.



Pan Fried Sole Fish With Lemon-Butter Sauce

Ingredients
8 sole fillets
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper ( or to taste)
7 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions
* Mix the flour with seasoned salt and pepper in a shallow dish.
* Dredge the fish fillets in the flour mixture.
* Heat a large skillet over high heat.
* Add in about 3 tablespoons butter to the hot skillet.
* Saute the fillets in 2 batches, cooking on each side (on high heat about 2 minutes per side) or until just cooked through; transfer the fish to a plate to keep warm.
*Add in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and cook until golden in colour; add in lemon juice, bring to a boil and add in the parsley.
* Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
* Pour the warm sauce over the fish.
* Serve immediately