It's rare that a recipe seduces me as much as this Iranian-style fish with bitter orange juice and garlic on the blog "Un peu gay dans les Coings" (a Belgian blog I've been following almost since the beginning of my culinary adventures)!
As soon as I read it, I imagined it on my plate, and the result matched my imaginary delights.
It must be said that there were all the key words to make it click: Iranian cuisine, citrus, fish, dill… It's an easy recipe to make, quick (the longest part was to cook the side dish), refined, tasty and relatively "light" (because there is oil, of course, but not that much).
Changes to the recipe: saffron
I don't have any Ьіttеr oranges, so I followed Sylvain's advice and made a half and half mixture of normal orange juice and lemon juice. This gave me a larger amount of juice than his, 200 ml instead of 130 ml.
I added saffron to this juice, because saffron is, for me, almost inseparable from Iranian cuisine (with, among other things, tadig, that rice dish with its saffron crust) and goes so well with fish.

I think my fish was also more abundant than in his recipe, so I also doubled the quantities for the breading.
I replaced the grape molasses with pomegranate molasses, because I had the latter and not the former. And pomegranate is also a central ingredient in Iranian cuisine.
Finally, I didn't use rice as a garnish. Rice is really a great classic of Iranian cuisine, the natural accompaniment to this dish, but I had been eating it for three days (I was made an absolutely delicious tiep, among others) and I really wanted something else. The small fried potatoes go very well with this dish.
How to make this sole fillet recipe work
This is a very easy recipe. It just requires a little preparation and organisation.

The two things you should not do:
Forget to wipe the fish before putting it in the breading. As there is no egg yolk to hold it in place, you have to press the fіllеtѕ well into the breading, with dry fingers too!
Overcooking or overheating: the whole recipe is done over low to medium heat. Olive oil does not tolerate high temperatures and is used for browning, not for frying. And sole, like all fish, is ticklish about overcooking. You really have to be quick in the first cooking, two minutes maximum per side, and not to cook too long when you have added the juice.
Coated sole fillets in citrus juices and pomegranate molasses
Ingredients
- 2 Sole prepared in fillets
- 400 gr Potatoes
For the coating (breading)
- 1 tablespoon Flour
- ½ Teaspoon Turmeric
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper
- ¼ Teaspoon Sweet pepper
For the cooking
- 5 heads Garlic
- 5 Tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 Orange
- 1 Lemon
- 1 pinch Saffron
- ½ Teaspoon Pomegranate molasses
- 1 knack Butter
- ½ cup Dill
- ½ cup Parsley
Instructions
- Cut the potatoes into small pieces with their skins on and cook them in salted water (about 15 minutes)
- Then mix the orange juice and lemon juice.
- Add the saffron pistils, and set aside for at least ten minutes.
- Mix all the ingredients for the breading.
- Wipe off and dry the fish fillets.
- Brown the garlic in two tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over low heat. The oil should not sizzle, and the garlic cloves should just reach a nice golden color.
- Set aside.
- Add the drained potatoes and a tablespoon of oil, and fry for about ten minutes.
- Set aside and keep warm.
- Add the remaining olive oil to the pan.
- Bread the fillets and cook them for about two minutes on each side over low heat. Just long enough to brown them.
- Add the golden garlic, citrus juice mixture, molasses and a knob of butter.
- Cover and cook over low heat for a few minutes.
- Serve with the chopped herbs.
2 Comments
Hey, sorry for the very late answer.… I had been away from this blog for a long time.
Dried sweet pepper is not exactly the same as sweet paprika. The process is the same, but the peppers used are not exactly the same. Nevertheless, you can easily substitute one for the other (but don't use normal paprika, which is too strong)
What is "sweet pepper". I understand what sweet peppers are, a fruit. However the context of its use in the recipe suggests it is a spice or herb. Is it the same as sweet paprika?