Jamie Oliver calls this "another great pan-baked recipe that is perfect for coping with lots of people without a huge deal of effort." Oliver uses plaice, a popular flatfish in England favored over flounder, but lemon sole is a good substitute.
Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 1 hr
Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
Make sauce:
Step 1
Cook garlic in 2 tablespoons oil in a 2-quart flameproof gratin dish over moderate heat (on stovetop), stirring until softened (but with no change in color), 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine and boil until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice, breaking them up with a spoon, and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Add sea salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.
Prepare fish while sauce simmers:
Step 2
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Step 3
Pulse olives, basil, and anchovy to a coarse paste in a food processor (or finely chop with a knife). Add 2 tablespoons oil and pulse to combine.
Step 4
Lay fish fillets, skinned sides down, on a work surface and season with pepper. Divide olive paste among fillets and spread evenly. Beginning at narrow end, roll up each fillet.
Bake fish:
Step 5
Arrange fish rolls, seam sides down, on tomato sauce in gratin dish. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon oil and bake, uncovered, in middle of oven, until fish is just cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Step 6
Transfer fish to 4 heated plates. Heat tomato sauce in gratin dish over moderate heat (on stovetop), then add spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted, about 1 minute. Spoon sauce with spinach alongside fish.
How would you rate Pan-Baked Lemon Sole with Spinach, Olives, and Tomatoes?
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Reviews (53)
Back to TopNice. Added crushed red chilis to the sauce, used kalamata olives, had no spinach so I pulsed in asparagus with the olive/basil mix. Served with rice. Big hit. :)
SuperKath
Ottawa, Canada
1/20/2014
Incredibly fast and easy, and a nice enough flavor, but nothing all that special. Somewhere between 2 and 3 forks. I used Pacific Sole as that's what's available here. I was initially worried that the tinny flavor of canned tomatoes would come through since the simmer time is so short, but it was not an issue.
lschmidt
Portland, OR
10/16/2013
This was just OK. Agree with another user that it had all the ingredients that I like, so I expected it to be better. Overall, it was too bland and wet. Definitely would prepare the spinach separately next time.
gypsylthr
Scottsdale, AZ
8/19/2013
To make it a bit quicker I used crushed tomato sauce, heated in the saucepan first then transferred to baking dish. F.Processed olive paste, fresh basil, anchovy paste and garlic. Go easy on anchovy paste, I ended up using too much...overbearing fishy taste. Maybe 1/2 tsp anchovy paste would be sufficient.Omitted spinach altogether.
blonke
Calgary, AB
3/7/2012
I really thought I would like this dish - it has so many ingredients that I love. I found it too salty and too wet. If I were to make it again, I would cook the fish for 12 instead of 15 minutes - parts were definitely overcooked, and the fish will probably continue to cook while you're wilting the spinach. And as far as that goes, I would just saute the spinach separately next time - I don't see the point of drowning it in the tomato sauce. I would not add sea salt to the tomatoes - all of the ingredients have plenty of salt in them already.
cchamp2
New York, NY
12/27/2011
This was really easy, tasted great and looked good. I put it on top of spaghetti squash mixed with a little parmesan, basil and butter. It tasted great with the tomato sauce and fish. Kids loved it too. Will definitely make it again.
Anonymous
Boulder, CO
10/20/2011
I rate this 4 because it's lovely, perfect for a houseful of dinner guests, delicious, fresh, hearty and light. I used three times as much basil (ready in my garden), and i used fresh tomatoes (also from the garden, romas that i roasted and blended). I'm talking really, really good. Served with a side of homemade fettucini with nothing but olive oil, parsley, garlic, crushed red pepper and peccorino romano, along with a bright salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Loved it!
nccookin
Washington, DC
9/5/2011
I really liked this dish! I made it for a 7 person dinner party, and it was really easy to cook while entertaining. And it impressed everyone. I used dover sole and a pre- made olive tapenade (with chopped fresh basil) to cut down on preparation. Make sure to use just a little smear of the olive mixture, otherwise it can easily overwhelm the fish.
wooster5b
nyc, ny
10/27/2010
Just okay from my experience. I used petrale sole - no lemon sole to be found. The fillets were about 3 ounces each so I bought 2/per person - big mistake because everyone only ate one. The fish AND sauce lacked flavor. The sauce ingredients looked a little bland but I thought the tapenade would spice it up - not enough to improve the result. I pureed the sauce in hopes of it becoming thicker but then the addition of spinach to the sauce was quite odd to begin with and only thinned the sauce more.
Anonymous
huntington beach, CA
9/7/2009
This turned out really good and light. I skipped the anchovies (didn't have any), and used low-salt Turkish black olives. I didn't use any additional salt since the saltiness from the olives and fish was enough. I used dried basil instead of fresh and added some fresh parsley into the olive mix... 15 minutes bake time was perfect. My husband and I both loved it.
ayse_lynn
San Francisco, CA
6/8/2009
I used dover sole and added leeks to the garlic and tomatoes....served with red potatoes and roasted cauliflower drizzled with balsamic. Great, easy dish
samlevine1
4/10/2009
Excellent flavors and easy to make! It also works well with a more robust fish like tanigue.
Anonymous
Manila
2/9/2009
I made this last night for three guests and was really happy with how it turned out. I used dover sole fillets (skinless) instead of lemon sole and found it perfect, unlike other reviewers who used the lemon sole. I skipped the anchovies like others, if only because of the high salt content in the olives. I also used an olive mix from the fresh olives section of the market. Instead of whole canned tomatoes, I used 28 oz of diced tomatoes from Contadina and added in about 6-7 grape tomatoes for some sweetness... I served with some israeli couscous (added a little white onion and sauteed garlic for flavor -- no salt) and some sauteed asparagus. Delicious!
bmonnie
1/26/2009
We liked this dish a lot and I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I didn't have any fresh basil on hand so I used some store bought pesto to put in the paste. Also used kalamata olives because that is all I had on hand. The fish did come out too flaky but everything had good flavors, the sole was thin. Easy to make and tasty. No spinach either so you don't have to follow exactly. Worth making.
gkatieg
1/12/2009
我没有使用鳀鱼或橄榄油和这是一个great dish. With those two items I think the flavors would have been too much
aburtoft
San Francisco, CA
11/13/2008
