I found this recipe in Edda Servi Machlin’s fascinating cookbook, The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews. Published in 1981, the recipes and the stories recounted by Machlin are of her childhood in the heart of Jewish Pitigliano (see also her recipe for Sfratti). It’s like time-travelling directly to this fascinating Maremman town in the 1930s.
Her original recipe is called filetti di sogliola al limone del sabato, where she describes this as a dish for Sabbath or Shabbat, a day set aside for rest and worship, observed between sundown on Friday until Saturday evening. It’s a wonderfully simple dish that requires a full night of marinating, so it’s the perfect thing to prepare the day before you want to serve it. Similar to the South American preparation for ceviche, delicate sole fillets are cured in lemon juice overnight and then eaten raw with a dressing of olive oil, parsley and olives. You can also steam these marinated fillets and it’s still a delicious dish. Note that when serving raw fish, it’s imperative that you freeze the fish first.
In Argentario, it’s common to find four-spot megrim, similar to megrim sole, which is wonderful for this delicious, refreshing dish. This is enough for four main servings, but you can halve this and serve as part of an antipasto, too.