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1
Preheat the oven to 500F.
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2
Smear the bottom of an ovenproof skillet with the butter; sprinkle the shallot and mushrooms around the sides of the skillet.
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3
Season the fish with salt and pepper to taste and lay it in the center of the skillet.
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4
Pour the cider around the fish.
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5
Bring to a boil on top of the stove, then transfer to the oven.
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6
Bake for about 8 minutes; its highly unlikely the fish will need more time than this unless it is very thick (or you like it very well done).
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7
Baste with the pan juices and serve.
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8
The lone improvement you can make to the main recipe is to add more butter.
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9
Although I stopped at 4 tablespoons1/2 stickI realized that there really was almost no upper limit as far as my taste buds were concerned.
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10
But the dish is awfully nice when made on the lean side, too.
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11
Substitute any aromatic vegetable, or a combination, for the shallot: onion, leek, carrot (cut very small), celery, fennel, scallion.
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12
Use a mixture of mushrooms, or fresh mushrooms combined with reconstituted dried mushrooms.
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13
A little of the strained mushroom-soaking liquid added to the poaching liquid is nice, too.
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14
A teaspoon of thyme leaves added to the poaching liquid is great; also good is parsley (a small handful of stalks), chervil (a small bunch), or dill (a few stalks).
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15
Garnish with chopped fresh leaves of the same herb.
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16
Some seeds are good in the poaching liquid, tootry caraway, coriander, or fennel.
