Two weeks ago I woke up to this photo. (And nope, this is not an April Fools!)
Yes, that’s right! Six beautiful flounder! Last summer, Nate’s cousin taught him about flounder gigging, and they’ve turned that into their bonding tradition. They even took me and a couple of the other cousins out last summer in South Carolina, and it is a WILD experience! You can fish flounder with a pole…or you can hunt them with tridents! Obviously the latter is much more exciting. You do it during the nighttime, and wade around in shallow waters looking for something that could potentially be a fish lying low in the sands. I’ve yet to catch one. But now I can say that I’ve cooked them!
Apologies in advance for the poor photo quality - only had my Samsung on the farm this weekend. Anyways, a great debate exists in Southern cooking when it comes to white fish: to fry or not to fry? I think most people would say with gusto: FRY! But when Nate presented me with these beautiful flounders - they even filleted and skinned them for us - I decided to settle the question once and for all. I baked half of the flounder in a traditional butter/herb/lemon sauce, and then fried up the other half of the flounder in corn meal and spices (cornmeal to keep it selfishly gluten free).
Flounder is not like salmon. It is an extremely mild and delicate white fish, with very little flavor of its own. It will take on essentially any flavor that you cook it with. So what was the verdict? The household was split between the two! Everyone enjoyed both versions, and they really felt like two very different dishes. The cornmeal fish was crispy but not oily, had great texture, and tasted even better with a little ketchup. The lemon baked fish was light and fresh, and you really got to enjoy the flakiness of the fish itself. I think I preferred the baked version, to be honest.
It was a true hunter-gatherer meal that would have made Michael Pollan proud. Fish hunted by the boys, vegetables grown in our garden, and even the eggs used to coat with the cornmeal were raised on the farm! The quinoa was our imported addition. It was a lovely meal on a cold day.
If you’re interested in the recipes I used, you can find the cornmeal one here from Epicurious. I omitted the regular flour and no one knew the difference. For the baked flounder recipe, see below!
- 4 flounder fillets
- Juice of 3 lemons, plus extra lemon for serving
- 2 tbsp fresh herbs (I used lemon basil, but regular basil or parsley would work great)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Chili flakes
- Salt and pepper
- Optional: Lemon slices for decoration
- About 40 minutes prior to cooking, place the fillets in a shallow baking dish. Rub in the olive oil and squeeze the lemon juice onto the fish
- Sprinkle on the herbs, chili flakes, and season with salt and pepper
- Let marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
- Carefully spoon little dabs of butter on each fillet
- Pop in the oven for ~10 minutes (depending on the thickness of your fish)
- Fish will be done when it is opaque throughout and flaky
- Remove and serve with more lemon, salt, and pepper!
Thanks for stopping by! 
I love this on so many levels! First, yay science! What a delicious experiment. Even more amazing, though, is being able to eat fish you caught yourselves with vegetables grown in your own garden. I’m so jealous. It looks like an amazing meal!
it was such a fun meal on so many levels!