Fried Flounder

Name: Fried Flounder, Baked with Plums and Tomatoes
Prep time: 1 h 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 2 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Flounder 2; Blue plums 300 g; Tomatoes 2; Bell pepper 2; Onion 1; Vegetable oil (olive) 4-5 tbsp; Dry white wine (or water) 4-5 tbsp; Spices: sea salt, black pepper and allspice berries, nutmeg, ginger, dried aromatic herbs to taste; Fresh herbs optional, for serving

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2 h

Sea flounder differs from other fish by its completely flat body, flattened from back to belly rather than from the sides like other fish.

Interestingly, baby flounders hatch from the eggs looking like the fry of other fish, with an ordinary body shape. Only as they grow does this odd deformation happen: the eyes move to one side and the fins shift.

I remember that in my childhood, when my parents took us to sunbathe on the Black Sea, we caught flounder by simply spearing it on a sharpened stick and then fried it on the spot, the tastiest way. True, those were tiny ones, the size of a dinner plate. In the wild, flounder can grow to hundreds of kilograms, and catching one a meter across is by no means rare. Still, flounder can also be caught with ordinary bottom tackle, like goby, hake and horse mackerel.

The tastiest flounder is fried. Frying flounder is not difficult at all, and it cooks very quickly because it is thin and flat. A little spice and oil, and fried flounder always turns out very tasty.

Fried flounder goes very well with various vegetables, simply stewed, and not for very long. In my opinion, the best option is flounder baked in the oven with plums, or with a mix of vegetables and sour fruit such as grapes, orange and plums. If it is plum season now, flounder baked with plums will work perfectly. An old family recipe.

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Ingredients

2 servings

Flounder 2
Blue plums 300 g
Tomatoes 2
Bell pepper 2
Onion 1
Vegetable oil (olive) 4-5 tbsp
Dry white wine (or water) 4-5 tbsp
Spices: sea salt, black pepper and allspice berries, nutmeg, ginger, dried aromatic herbs to taste
Fresh herbs optional, for serving

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparing the fish

Flounder has very tasty, tender flesh, but it is quite fatty. Flounder is usually fried or stewed, or baked in the oven.
Prepare the flounder: thaw it if it was frozen, cut off the fins and remove the innards. Rinse the fish thoroughly.
Flounder has a rather distinctive smell when frying, but that is more a peculiarity than a flaw. If you skin the flounder before frying, you can avoid this smell. Also, because the fish lives on the bottom, its skin is covered with small hard growths like sandpaper, which are better not eaten.
Make the spice mix: in a mortar, combine 0.5 tsp sea salt (3 g), ginger and nutmeg on the tip of a knife, 1-2 pinches of dried aromatic herbs (basil, oregano, mint, savory and so on), and a few peppercorns of black pepper and allspice. Grind everything with the pestle to a powder.
Rub the flounder with the resulting mixture and refrigerate for about 1 hour. During this time the flounder will take on salt and absorb the spices.

Vegetables and plums

Fry the onion: peel and slice it into rounds or rings.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion over medium heat until soft and lightly browned.
Fry the pepper: remove the seeds and cut it into fairly large slices.
Fry it in oil after the onion until soft.
Cut the tomatoes into thin wedges. You do not need to peel them, but it is better to remove the seeds.
Put the vegetables in the dish: grease a baking dish with oil and add the fried onion.
Next, spread all the fried pepper in a single layer.
Prepare the plums and add them to the dish: wash them, rubbing off the bluish bloom well, cut into 4 pieces and remove the pits. It is best to take plums that are not overripe, and preferably with red flesh.
Lay the cut plums over the onion and pepper. Season with salt and pepper.

Fish

Fry the flounder in the remaining oil, without flour or breading.
Simply put the fish in a hot frying pan and fry over medium heat for 6-7 minutes on each side, until golden. Since flounder is quite round, you will most likely have to fry one fish and then the next.
Assemble the dish: put the fried flounder on top of the plums.
Pour dry white wine into the dish, or water if you think wine is too much. Arrange the tomatoes over the fish.
Bake uncovered in an oven preheated to 220°C for about 35-40 minutes, until the plums and vegetables are soft. While baking, baste the fish 2-3 times with the juice that collects in the dish. Toward the end, move the tomato wedges to the edge of the fish, otherwise they may dry out and stick.

Serving

Put the cooked fish on a plate, surrounded by stewed plums and pepper as a side dish. If you like, sprinkle with herbs; flounder baked with plums only gets better for it. Serve with chilled white wine.

Calories and macros

705 kcal

Serving ≈ 690 g

Protein54 g31% of kcal
Fat40 g52% of kcal
Carbs28 g16% of kcal

100 g102 kcalProtein 7.8 gFat 5.8 gCarbs 4.1 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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