Flounder with satsuma hollandaise sauce

Citrus season inspired this fish dish—in particular, the Satsuma oranges that I brought home from the market last week. A humble flounder fillet was transformed into something sexy with a sultry satsuma hollandaise sauce. The recipe is from New Orleans Chef John Besh, who used the sauce on crab cakes and poached eggs, which sounds phenomenal for a brunch along with a Bloody Mary, doesn't it? Satsumas, from Japan, are cute little oranges that are about the size of clementines, and their juices are sweeter and more red than a usual orange. If you can't find them you can use any sort of orange in this recipe, although the name is half the fun! The flounder, which you could also swap for sole, was simply sautéed in a little grapeseed oil

I cut this recipe in half, but here is the full recipe. Any leftover sauce can be refrigerated for another use. If the sauce breaks, you can always resurrect it with some warm water, a wire whisk and some elbow grease.

Satsuma Hollandaise

1/2 cup satsuma or orange juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 one-inch piece of ginger, peeled and crushed
1 shallot, minced
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
Leaves from 1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Juice of 1/2 lemon
4 egg yolks
1 cup hot clarified butter (between 135° and 145°)
1 pinch cayenne pepper
Salt
Tabasco

Combine the satsuma juice, vinegar, ginger, shallots, peppercorns, coriander, thyme, and bay leaf in a small saucepan over medium heat and boil until the liquid is reduced by half. Strain the reduction into a small bowl (discard the solids), whisk in the lemon juice, and let cool.

Pour the satsuma reduction over the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk well. Whisk in 1 tablespoon water. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, to make an improvised double boiler. Continue whisking the eggs over the hot water until they thicken and coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the yolks while adding a slow, steady stream of hot clarified butter. When all the butter has been added, season with cayenne, salt, and Tabasco, and keep the sauce in a warm place near the stove.

The sauce is very pretty, with bright oranges, 

yellows and specs of blacks and greens. 

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