Sole fillets wrapped in a plantain banana slice and a bacon
strip, served with plantain banana chips
The In a previous life, as I
was working as a SMB consultant in France, I was sent for 5 or 6 weeks for an evaluation
mission in Togo and Benin. Togo and Benin are two small neighbor counties, both
shaped like a long strip with a narrow sea coast, and squeezed between Ghana and the huge Nigeria. Those two
countries are located in the center of the Slave Coast and were the points of
departure of the sinister Atlantic slave trade. Slaves were captured among the
rival tribes, including, as the trade was developing, the tribes from the
hinterland up to the actual Burkina Faso and Nigeria. Because of this “economic
activity”, those two countries were rapidly colonized, from the early 16th
century, mostly by the Portuguese, then by the Germans for the Togo. Both of them
became French colonies and/or protectorates, during WWI for Togo and at the end of the 19th century
for Benin (then called Dahomey, which originally meant “on the belly of King Dâ”
in reference of an historic fact or a legend, or both, from the 17th
century). Dahomey is also the area where the Vaudoo religion originated from… Thus,
Togo and Benin are two beautiful countries with a rich history even though this
history presents some dark sides.
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| Togo's batik representing probably a queen |
Talking about belly...
I made also made some
gastronomic discoveries, goat meat, manioc (cassava), plantain bananas... Among
other things, I was served the latter with sole and I kept a very comforting
memory of this dish, although I forgot how it was prepared. As I found some non-ripe
plantain bananas (those were big ones while those I had in Togo and Benin were
small) in my usual grocery store, I decided to associate them with sole fillets
in the recipe described below, freely inspired by the dish I had 35 years ago…
Sole is a delicate fish with a subtle non-fishy taste. Wrapping it in a roll of
bacon protects its fragile flesh, while the banana slice and earthy taste isolate
the sole from the too invasive bacon smokiness.
Levels of difficulty
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Cost
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Preparation time
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Cooking time
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n
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$$
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20 minutes
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15 minutes
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Ingredients
- 2 servings
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Instructions
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§
10 small sole filets (i.e. the equivalent of 5 soles of around 2/3 oz
each)
§
1 big non-ripe plantain banana (otherwise, 2 or 3 small ones) thinly
sliced with a mandolin
§
5 thin strips of bacon, cut in 2 cross-wise (1 strip allows wrapping 2 sole
filets) (thin)
§
½ cup to 1 cup (approx.) of peanut oil depending on the size of the
frying pan used
§
½ lemon
§
Salt
§
Cayenne pepper
§
Pink pepper corn
§ Pea shoots or other baby
greens
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§
Start by salting the sole filets on each side and let them rest for
15/20 minutes in the fridge to firm up their flesh
§
After 15/20 minutes, take the fish, get rid of the extra salt by rapidly
rinsing the filets under water (don’t forget that the bacon will ring extra
saltiness) and pet them dry. Season them with Cayenne pepper at your
convenience
§
Roll the filets, wrap them with long enough banana slices (the shorter
slices will be used to make the ships), then wrap the whole in a bacon strip,
and maintain those with either a tooth pick or a cooking swine
§
Heat a tiny bit of peanut oil in a frying pan, on medium, and when warm
enough, start to sear the rolls all around the bacon strips. Do that for
around 8/10 minutes, rotating regularly the rolls so that each part is nicely
browned. The banana slices and the sole filets will be ideally cooked and
moist, thanks to the fat rendered by the bacon
§
In another frying pan, heat the peanut oil. When hot, there should be enough
oil in the bottom, at least 0.5 cm to deep-fry the banana slices. Deep-fry
the banana slices till taking a nice gold color. Place them on a paper towel
to absorb the extra fat
§
Serve the whole on a bed of baby greens with a lemon vinaigrette, spread
some pink pepper corns, and enjoy…
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Gallery
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| Ganvié, the African Venice, on the Lake Nokoué in Benin |
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