Recipe courtesy Pat Riley, Perigee Restaurant, Toronto.
Ingredients
Poached Sole Knots in Red Wine
Charred Bermuda Onion and Beet
Swiss Chard Sauce
Directions
Quarter the beet and lightly crush the garlic cloves. Rough chop the onion, carrot and celery into 1-inch pieces.
To a saucepan, add the red wine, chicken stock, chopped vegetables and herbs. Set over medium heat. Bring wine mixture to a simmer. Stir once to incorporate and reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Reduce wine mixture to half its original volume. Strain out all vegetables and return liquid to pot. Reserve the 4 beet quarters for the hash. Set the wine mixture aside until ready to poach the sole. Remove 1/3 cup of the wine mixture and set aside for the hash.
Cut Bermuda onions into long slivers about ½-inch thick. Remove beet greens from the stalks and cut them into 1/4–inch strips, then cut the stalks into 1-inch pieces. Slice reserved beet into ¼-inch wedges.
Preheat a cast iron pan over high heat until it is smoking hot. Add 1 ½ tbsp. olive oil to the pan. Immediately add the strips of onion and quick fry them stirring often until they are translucent and well coloured. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from pan and reserve.
Heat large frying pan on medium heat until it is very hot. Add the remaining 1 ½ tbsp. of olive oil, garlic and shallots to the pan. Sauté until they just begin to colour. Add beet stalk pieces and beet green strips. Fry for about 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add reserved 1/3 cup red wine mixture. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add back the reserved beet quarters and onions. Stir. Cook for another 2 minutes. Taste mixture and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Set the mixture aside until ready to plate.
Separate the Swiss chard leaves from the stalks and discard the stalks. Immerse Swiss chard leaves into a large amount of well salted boiling water. Cook, uncovered, until tender, about 2 ½ minutes. Remove Swiss chard from water. Immediately plunge the into ice cold water to stop the cooking process. Remove cooled chard from the ice water. Squeeze out as much excess water as you can. Transfer the chard to a blender.
Blend with just enough of the chicken stock to form a sauce. The consistency of the sauce should be that of a thick soup. Transfer sauce to a small pot. When ready to plate: gently heat the sauce on medium low heat until it starts to simmer. Remove from heat. Add red wine vinegar and nutmeg. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in butter.
When the hash and sauce are made, heat the wine mixture to a steady simmer. Add the salt and pepper. Gently lower knots into wine mixture, making sure they are completely covered, and poach for approximately 3 minutes.
Remove knots from wine and let drain for 30 seconds. They can now be plated.
Put down a quarter of the hash in the center of four plates and drizzle the sauce around these piles. Place one sole knot on each pile of hash and serve.