Yellow Belly Flounder

Recipe by: Tom Hishon – Chef and Co-founder of Kingi, Daily Bread, and Orphans

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5-10 minutes
Feeds: 4 hungry humans

Part of fish: Whole fish

Ingredients

2 large flounders (350-500g) 

Flaky sea salt 

Olive oil 

120g butter 

40g capers

2 lemons 

5g (a good handful) curry leaves

Method

1) Using a pair of kitchen scissors, trim the skirt of the flounders away and the fins on the tail. Salt both sides of the flounder with the flaky salt (this step is only necessary if you are going to cook the fish in a pan, refer to instructions at the bottom for cooking in the oven).

2) Heat a large flat frying pan to medium-high heat, add a good glug of olive oil to the pan and place the flounder belly-side down into the hot oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes then add the butter and capers to surround the flounder. Once the butter begins to foam, begin to baste the fish for a further minute using a spoon.  

3) Carefully turn the flounder by pulling the tail up with one hand and using a spatula to release the fish from the pan, then use it to turn the fish. 

4) Continue cooking on medium heat for 2-3 minutes while basting the fish with the hot foaming butter. You can now squeeze in the juice from one whole lemon then add the curry leaves, stirring them into the butter to release their aromatics. Reduce the heat to low and rest the fish for a couple of minutes to cook through. 

5) To serve, spoon the crisp curry leaves and capers on top of the flounders, you can use the pan as a vessel. Mop up the delicious brown butter with a good loaf of warm sourdough bread from the Daily Bread and serve with a fresh Radicchio Salad.

February 2023 - Dallas Abel
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd.
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited