Dishes · A classic of Norman · The Channel coast, by way of Paris
Sole normande
Also Sole à la normande
Sole poached in wine or cider and fish stock, garnished with mussels, prawns and mushrooms, in a sauce of the reduced liquor with cream and egg yolks.
What makes it sole normande
Sole, whole or in fillets, poached gently.
Mussels, prawns and mushrooms as garnish.
The cooking liquor reduced with cream and butter into a sauce normande.
Where it comes from
Sole from the Channel and Norman cream give it its name, but the grand version, crowded with garnish, is usually said to have been shaped in nineteenth-century Paris restaurants rather than in Normandy itself.
It became a set piece of classic French cooking. In Normandy it's simpler: the fish, a few mussels and prawns, and a cream sauce made from the cooking juices.
How it varies
Sole dieppoise
Much the same, with Dieppe's mussels and prawns, sometimes in cider.