It’s funny to see the spiral fountain at Darling Harbour without kids in it. Why do kids love it so much, I wonder. Why do they take the long way around it to get to the core when they can just walk straight across to it?

In the end, it’s all about the walk and pleasure itself rather than GETTING THERE; You might see or feel something interesting or even meet someone special along the way to enrich your life, though it might take longer than others to get to where they might want or need to be. But how long it takes doesn’t really matter, does it?  We are heading in the same direction after all. No hurrying or rushing. It is so true when it comes to cooking.

I’ve been watching French shows lately to prepare myself with the knowledge of  European cooking and learned the art of rolling, which end up on  restaurant menus with the French word roulade. As I watched the chef elaborate with chicken fillets by stuffing them and then rolling them with spinach leaves and then again with pastry, I thought to myself if a dish involved that much of effort before landing on a plate I would eat very slowly appreciating every bite of it with ‘Umm’s and ‘Wow’s.

<Pepitas Pesto>

I had some extra time one weekend and, inspired by the cooking show, thought I might put my rustic cooking aside and make something more intricate and artful. Sole Roulade! To start off, I made pesto with pepitas instead of usual pine nuts, which I really liked, and I  made a cheese and tomato sandwich with it to take to work for the next few days. It makes great sauce for pasta dishes as well.

The choice for fish was ling fillet, which wasn’t the right sort that I had in mind for the recipe because it wasn’t wide enough to roll, but I didn’t see any other suitable fish that day at the market. Then after some brainstorming for the stuffing, I settled for zucchini and carrot, so I shredded them and pan fried them slightly.  Then came the rolling part and it wasn’t a complicated job for me at all; I have years of experience in rolling sushi and kimbab. The one thing that went wrong in making this was that I forgot to cook the rolled fish before rolling in filo pastry, so the juice oozed out during baking and made a bit of a mess.

<Sole Roulade>

This dish was surprisingly satisfying, bursting with flavours, and the texture of the fish was so meaty that one could mistake it for chicken. I’m not sure if i would have liked it as much, if I had used more delicate fish. The prominent flavour here was basil from the pesto and I think that rather gave away more Italian feel than French, so I might use thyme next time and see how differently it works with fish. Although the outer filo layers add crispiness and crunchiness, therefore extra character, to the dish,  you can skip it if you think it is a bit of hassle.

Pepitas Pesto

a bunch of basil
1/2 c slightly toasted pepitas
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1 glove garlic
1/4 c parmesan cheese, grated
salt&pepper to taste

Put seeds and basil in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped , and add the rest and process it.

Sole Roulade

3-4 fillets of white fish
filo pastry (one sheet for each fillet)
spinach leaves(optional)

For the filling

1 zucchini, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 onion, finely sliced

Pan fried all until it just turns soft and set aside to cool

For the lemon butter sauce

3 Tbs butter
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c white wine
chives chopped

Spread the pesto over each fillet sprinkled with a bit of salt and place filling, then roll it.
Continue the same process with the remaining fillets and bake them for 5 mins at 180 ‘c.
Cover each fillet with spinach leaves before wraping it in filo pastry.
Bake it at 180′c for 12-15 mins until gold.
Serve the whole fillet as a main dish with the lemon butter sauce or serve it sliced as an entree or capanes.