I know this will have little to do with a recipe, but our Polish/Catholic Easter traditions sure do have a lot to do with food, and my mothers interpretation of what we're eating. After Ash Wednesday, some forty days, my mother would make us fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. I think now that the Wednesday bit was her not wanting to think of something to cook. I guess pleasing 6 members of the family was quite a challenge. You never said you didn't like something and then she would make you something else, like at my house, you just ate it. If my father was working afternoon shift,which he often did, we would get these unusual concoctions, like sardines with onions, or mustard sandwiches we gobbled them up, my husband would DIE if I served him a plate of onions. So when my family turns their nose up when I serve them Rainbow Trout, I say fooey to you. The option is sardines and onions. Today being Good Friday, we do fast or abstain, not too much though, we'll be having pierogi for supper, just no meat. I usually do "Blackened Sole, but since my gourmet isn't going to be home to eat it, I'm sticking with pierogi. I will however include the recipe.
B
lackened Sole with Internal Damnation Sauce
Even the most innocent "soles" will feel the heat from this succulent seafood. This hot dish will spice up your weekend.
Ingredients:
Internal Damnation Sauce:
• 1 lb. fresh hot red peppers, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 drop liquid smoke
Blackening seasoning:
• 1 teaspoon each ground white pepper and ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons each dried thyme and dried marjoram
• 1 tablespoon each garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and cayenne
• 4 tablespoons paprika
Sole:
• 4 large filets of sole
• 1 stick melted butter
Directions:
1. Combine peppers, garlic, vinegar, salt and liquid smoke in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Remove pepper mixture from heat and blend in 2-3 batches until smooth, then strain into a clean glass jar and set aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate until use
3. Combine and blend seasoning ingredients and set aside.
4. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.
5. Turn on the ventilator hood fan, open the windows and disconnect the smoke alarms. Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat for 8-10 minutes until hotter than hell.
6. Rinse the sole in water and blot dry. Brush both sides of the filets with melted butter and coat well with seasoning mix.
7. Carefully lay the filets two at a time into the hot pan and cook for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes on each side. Then lay sole in a pool of Internal Damnation Sauce and get ready to feel the burn.
If this seems like a lot of work to you, it is. But, I always tried to get that pain in the neck of my eldest son to eat, he was so skinny, so when he took an interest in food, I jumped on it. He's the one not going to be home today. I think what appealed to my guys was the play on words for this recipe and how we should eat it on Good Friday, annoying little pains that they are.
They found this recipe on the food network, Dinner & a Movie. I hate to tell them this but if they lived in my mother's house they wouldn't be watching television and awful movies on Good Friday either. I told them they didn't have to worry about their "soles" as I was saving them a seat REALLY close to "the fire".
The label was somewhat decieving, but once I got my Polish mind going, I figured this must be it, it's a very literal translation."Sour Soup" refers to the method used to obtain the results required for this particular soup. I was so delighted when I read the label at how low in fat this was( 0%), then I remembered I was going to whisk in 1/2 pint 35% cream. Sometimes I find this a little lacking in flavour so I'll add some Vegeta (similar to oxo cubes, but more flavour). And that is it, heat thoroughly. I serve it with hard boiled eggs, horseradish, kielbasa and rye bread. Refrigerate leftovers. 
