From Dining and the Opera in Manhattan

Recipe courtesy of The Four Seasons
New York, New York

Sauce

1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced shallots
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Pommery mustard

Fish

4 turbot fillets, about 6 ounces each
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large tomatoes, cored, peeled, and quartered
2 tablespoons Pommery mustard
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Garnish

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
8 ounces snow peas, blanched
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
8 fresh thyme sprigs

To make the sauce: In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the wine, shallots, and vinegar. Cook over high heat until reduced by half. Reduce the heat to low. Add the cream and cook again to reduce by half. Moving the pan on and off heat to regulate the melting, whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time, until the sauce is thick and emulsified. Add salt and pepper. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve into a heat proof bowl. Stir in the mustards and keep warm over a pan of barely simmering water until ready to serve.

To prepare the fish: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Season the turbot with salt and pepper. In a medium, heavy sauté pan or skillet, melt the butter over high heat. Add the fish and cook just enough to sear both sides, about 30 seconds on each side. Transfer to a platter and let cool completely.

]Remove the seeds from the quartered tomatoes. Cut each quarter into 4 equal pieces. Spread the mustard on one side of each of the fish fillets and sprinkle with thyme. Place the tomato pieces side by side in rows on top of each fillet to completely cover the fish. Drizzle the olive oil over. Place the fish in a lightly oiled baking dish and sprinkle it with a few drops of water to prevent the fish from sticking to the dish. Bake for 5 minutes, or just until firm to the touch.

Meanwhile, to prepare the garnish: In a large skillet or sauté pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the peas, season with salt and pepper, and sauté, stirring often, until the peas are heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Spoon a small amount of the sauce over the bottom of each of 4 warmed serving plates. Place a turbot fillet with tomato topping in the center of each plate. Arrange the snow peas on the top part of each plate and garnish with 2 thyme sprigs. Serve at once.

Makes 4 servings

From Dining and the Opera in Manhattan by Sharon O'Connor, page 62