This poached flounder is so easy and so low maintenance, I’m convinced it’s the perfect fish recipe for beginners. Just preheat the oven, combine your sauce ingredients, add the fish, and dinner’s on the table in 15 minutes. Feel free to substitute with sea bass or tilapia.
When it comes to cooking fish, beginner cooks often grow flustered and confused, and just end up making chicken again. Who can blame them? Which fish to buy, how to select it, and how to properly cook it, are not common knowledge – whereas chicken’s always chicken. Well, beginner cooks, I’m here to tell you that fish is actually one of the easiest proteins to make.
Start by checking out your local seafood store (plastic-wrapped supermarket fish is rarely fresh or responsibly sourced) and get the best fish your money can buy. The flesh should be plump and bright, and it should smell like the ocean; a strong fishy odor, conversely, will tell you it’s past its prime. Fish with a high oil content (like salmon) will smoke and be really smelly if cooked on the stove-top – us folks with tiny NYC apartments would be best advised to avoid that and cook salmon in the oven instead. Lean fish (like flounder and tilapia) is safe to pan-fry wherever.
This pouched flounder dish is very light – perfect for weeknight dinners. I served it over creamy polenta here, but it would be equally delicious with mashed potatoes or a grain like farro.
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Poached Flounder with Tomatoes and Lemon
(14 votes, average: 3.36 out of 5)
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- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This poached flounder with tomatoes and lemon is so easy and so low maintenance, I’m convinced it’s the perfect fish recipe for beginners.
Ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes (preferably ‘low sodium’ or ‘no salt added’)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon) + a few lemon slices
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon chopped dill (basil, cilantro or parsley also work), plus more to garnish
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt + freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- 3/4 pound flounder fillets, cut into serving portions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
- In an 8×8″ baking dish, stir together the tomatoes, lemon juice, garlic, dill, salt and pepper.
- Slide the fish into the sauce, sprinkle with extra salt and pepper, and top with the lemon slices. Bake just until the fish is opaque, 10-12 minutes. Garnish with extra herbs, if desired, and serve immediately.
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