In the realm of seafood delicacies, fillet of flounder meunière stands as a timeless classic, captivating taste buds with its exquisite simplicity and delicate flavors. Originating from the French culinary tradition, this dish showcases the natural elegance of flounder fillets, gently pan-seared until golden brown and bathed in a rich, buttery sauce infused with lemon, parsley, and capers. A symphony of textures and flavors, fillet of flounder meunière offers a culinary experience that is both refined and comforting, making it an enduring favorite among seafood enthusiasts worldwide.
Here are our top 9 tried and tested recipes!
EASY SOLE MEUNIERE
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Have 2 heat-proof dinner plates ready
- Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large shallow plate. Pat the sole fillets dry with paper towels and sprinkle one side with salt.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan over medium heat until it starts to brown. Dredge 2 sole fillets in the seasoned flour on both sides and place them in the hot butter. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 2 minutes. Turn carefully with a metal spatula and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. While the second side cooks, add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to the pan. Carefully put the fish filets on the ovenproof plates and pour the sauce over them. Keep the cooked fillets warm in the oven while you repeat the process with the remaining 2 fillets. When they're done, add the cooked fillets to the plates in the oven. Sprinkle with the parsley, salt, and pepper and serve immediately.
SOLE MEUNIERE
Provided by Anne Burrell
Time 20m
Yield 4 servings
Number Of Ingredients 8
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
- Generously coat a large saute pan with olive oil and bring to a high heat. Season 2 of the fillets with salt. Dredge the fillets in flour and place them immediately in the pan with the hot oil. Do not flour the fish ahead of time or it will be gummy and mushy on the outside rather than crispy.
- When the fish has turned from translucent to opaque, about 2/3 of the way through the cooking, turn the fish over and cook on the other side. Remove the fish from the pan and reserve on a sheet tray in the oven. Repeat the process with the remaining 2 fish fillets. Keep the cooked fish fillets warm in the oven while you make the sauce.
- Remove any excess oil from the pan. Add the butter and thyme leaves. Shake the pan frequently to prevent scorching. When the butter has melted and is very bubbly, add in the lemon juice and whisk to combine. As the butter becomes bubbly again and starts to turn a nutty brown, season with salt and whisk in the chopped parsley. Taste to make sure it is delicious.
- Remove the fish fillets from the oven and plate them, spooning the sauce over the fish.
FISH MEUNIERE WITH CAPERS
This is from the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, 2006 edition. This kind of made me think of chicken piccata, only made with fish. Use a flatfish, like sole or flounder for best results.
Provided by IngridH
Categories Egg Free
Time 20m
Yield 4 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 10
Steps:
- For the fish: Set oven to 200 degrees, and place a heatproof plate in the oven.
- Place flour in a baking dish. Season dry fish fillets with salt and pepper, set aside for 5 minutes or until moisture shows on the surface.
- Coat fish with flour, shake off any excess, and set aside on a baking sheet.
- In a large (12 inch) non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over high heat until shimmering.
- Add 1 tablespoon of butter and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add two fillets skin side up, to the skillet, and reduce heat to medium high. Cook the fish without distubing it, about 3 minutes, or until the edges are opaque and the bottom is golden.
- Carefully flip the fish (you may need two spatulas to do this without breaking it), and continue to cook for another two minutes or until the thickest part flakes when a toothpick is inserted.
- Transfer the fish to the oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining fillets.
- Wipe the pan clean, and repeat steps 6 through 11 with the other two fillets.
- For the browned butter: Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a stainless steel skillet over medium high heat until the butter melts.
- Continue to cook, swirling the pan, until the butter is golden brown and smells nutty, about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes more. Remove from heat.
- To serve: Remove fish from the oven and sprinkle with parsley. Add the lemon juice and capers to the browned butter, swirl to combine. Taste butter sauce, add salt or pepper to taste. Spoon the butter sauce over the fish, and serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 386.4, Fat 27.4, SaturatedFat 12.6, Cholesterol 119.2, Sodium 613.2, Carbohydrate 12.6, Fiber 0.6, Sugar 0.2, Protein 22.2
SOLE MEUNIèRE
This popular French classic coats the fish in seasoned flour which lightly protects the fish without overpowering its flavour
Provided by Good Food team
Categories Dinner, Supper
Time 12m
Number Of Ingredients 6
Steps:
- Check the fish for small bones and pull any out with tweezers. In a large shallow bowl, season the flour with a little salt and black pepper. Toss the fish in the flour, coating well, and shake off any excess.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the fish and cook, skin-side down, for 2 mins. Use a fish slice or large spatula to turn, then cook the other side for 1-2 mins until golden.
- Remove the fish to a warmed plate, then season. Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper. Return the pan to the heat, then add the butter. Heat until it melts and begins to turn a light brown, then mix in the lemon juice and capers, if using. Swirl in the pan for a few secs, return fish to the pan and spoon over any juices. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 501 calories, Fat 36 grams fat, SaturatedFat 14 grams saturated fat, Carbohydrate 18 grams carbohydrates, Fiber 1 grams fiber, Protein 27 grams protein, Sodium 0.67 milligram of sodium
SOLE MEUNIèRE
The dish that made Julia Child fall in love with French cuisine, sole meunière highlights the simple flavors of fresh fish, butter, lemon and parsley. Fish is the center of the dish, so using a quality fillet is important: A true English Dover sole is preferred. Clarified butter, which takes a few extra minutes to prepare, can take on heat without browning, making it ideal for pan-frying fish. A classic sole meunière is made with a bone-in fillet, but boneless sole is faster and easier. You'll find a recipe for clarified butter here. This recipe is part of The New Essentials of French Cooking, a guide to definitive dishes every modern cook should master. Buy the book.
Provided by Melissa Clark
Categories dinner, lunch, seafood, main course
Time 20m
Yield 6 servings
Number Of Ingredients 8
Steps:
- Heat oven to 200 degrees and place a large oven-safe plate or baking sheet inside.
- Place flour on a large, shallow plate. Season both sides of fish fillets with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge fish in flour, shaking off excess.
- In a 12-inch nonstick or enamel-lined skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons clarified butter until bubbling. Place half of the fish fillets in the pan and cook until just done, 2 to 3 minutes per side, then transfer to the plate or baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Add 2 more tablespoons clarified butter to skillet and heat until bubbling, then cook remaining fillets. Wipe out the skillet.
- Arrange the fish on a warm serving platter. Top with parsley. In reserved skillet, heat remaining 4 tablespoons unsalted butter until bubbling and golden, 1 to 2 minutes, then pour evenly over fillets. Serve immediately, with lemon wedges on the side.
Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 291, UnsaturatedFat 6 grams, Carbohydrate 8 grams, Fat 18 grams, Fiber 0 grams, Protein 24 grams, SaturatedFat 11 grams, Sodium 335 milligrams, Sugar 0 grams, TransFat 0 grams
FILLET OF FLOUNDER MEUNIERE
Steps:
- 1 Season fish with salt and pepper. Dip the fillets in milk or cream, thne dredge in flour. 2 Heat 1 stick butter in a large skillet, saute the fillets quickly over fairly high heat, not to many at a time until browned on both sides. Remove them to a serving dish and keep warm. Heat remaining butter in another skillet until light brown. Do not let the butter burn. Stir un parsley and lemon juice remove immediately from flame and pour the sizzling butter over the fish. Garnish with a few parsley sprigs
FILLET OF SOLE MEUNIèRE
Meunière is fancy French for a brown butter sauce. So why would I take on a dish whose deliciousness is dependent on butter-the enemy of healthy people? Well, because first of all, it's not-the enemy, that is. The key to good taste and good health is moderation, which, as we know, is the key to many good things. Second, because I love a challenge-and because I know you'll love the result.
Yield serves 4
Number Of Ingredients 10
Steps:
- Put the flour in a shallow dish. Season the fish with salt to taste. Dredge the fillets lightly in the flour, shaking off any excess.
- Heat 2 large nonstick sauté pans over medium heat. When the pans are hot, spray them generously with cooking spray, and add 2 fillets to each pan. Cook until the fish is golden brown and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a serving platter; tent it with foil to keep the fish warm.
- Raise the heat under the sauté pans to high. Add the spinach to one sauté pan, and wipe the other one out with a paper towel. Season the spinach with salt, and cook, stirring often, until the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes. Spoon the spinach next to the sole on the platter.
- While the spinach is cooking, when the other pan is very hot, add the butter to it. Cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until it is has browned and smells nutty, about 3 minutes.
- While the butter is browning, place the cornstarch in a small bowl, and whisk in the lemon juice and chicken broth. When the butter is ready, whisk the chicken broth mixture into the pan. Simmer the sauce, stirring constantly, until it has thickened, about 2 minutes.
- Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste; stir in the parsley. Pour the sauce over the fish, and serve.
- Fat: 44.8g (before), 10.7g (after)
- Calories: 640 (before), 259 (after)
- Protein: 26g
- Carbohydrates: 16g
- Cholesterol: 78mg
- Fiber: 4g
- Sodium: 512mg
EASY SOLE MEUNIERE (BAREFOOT CONTESSA)
This is a VERY good, simple Meuniere. Sometimes I use tilapia...I think you can use almost any kind of firm white fish. Be sure to use kosher salt, there is a difference. And I think the lemon zest really adds to the dish. I also add a few splashes of white wine and sometimes add capers at the end.
Provided by Scoutie
Categories < 30 Mins
Time 20m
Yield 2-4 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 7
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
- Have 2 heat-proof dinner plates ready.
- Combine the flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large shallow plate.
- Pat the sole fillets dry with paper towels and sprinkle one side with salt.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan over medium heat until it starts to brown.
- Dredge 2 sole fillets in the seasoned flour on both sides and place them in the hot butter.
- Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 2 minutes. Turn carefully with a metal spatula and cook for 2 minutes on the other side.
- While the second side cooks, add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to the pan.
- Carefully put the fish filets on the ovenproof plates and pour the sauce over them.
- Keep the cooked fillets warm in the oven while you repeat the process with the remaining 2 fillets.
- When they're done, add the cooked fillets to the plates in the oven. Sprinkle with the parsley, salt, and pepper and serve immediately.
HOW TO MAKE SOLE MEUNIèRE
Master the dish that made Julia Child fall in love with French cuisine. Melissa Clark will show you how.
Provided by Melissa Clark
Number Of Ingredients 0
Steps:
- The French excel at exquisitely wrought and technically challenging fish dishes, like bouillabaisse and lobster Thermidor. However, they are just as enamored of simpler recipes that focus on preserving the pristine beauty of their seafood. Sole meunière is a perfect example. To prepare it, sole, a succulent, flat white fish, is pan-fried in butter until crisp-edged and tender, then served with brown butter pan sauce, a sprinkling of parsley and a wedge of lemon. (The term meunière means in the style of the miller's wife, and refers to the flour in which the fish is dredged before frying.) Except for the browning of the butter, the ingredients are kept in their most elemental form. Yet together they create a dish of incomparable harmony and depth. In its most traditional presentation, sole meunière is made with the whole fish, then filleted tableside. You can still find it served that way at old-school French restaurants all over the world. But for the most part, home cooks use sole fillets, which makes the process faster and easier - and only slightly less flavorful and juicy than when the fish is cooked on the bone. Unlike a lot of classic French cuisine, sole meunière requires almost no advance preparation and very little time at the stove. It is one of the quickest ways to get to dinner, and you probably already have flour, salt, pepper, butter and lemon on hand. All you need is a beautiful piece of fish. That fish does not have be Dover sole, especially given that in recent years, its sustainability has become an issue (not to mention the fact that it is very expensive). Other flat, white, flaky fish will cook up nearly as well, and will taste delightful when pan-fried and smothered in brown butter. After all, there are very few things that wouldn't.
- With over 100 cataloged preparations, sole is one of the most esteemed fish in French cuisine, and sole meunière is the signature dish. It is the plainness of the recipe that makes it seem at once universal and utterly French. Almost all coastal cultures have some version of lightly fried fish, but only in France is it smothered in brown butter. Little is known about how sole meunière came to be, though we do know that for at least the past century it's been a specialty of Normandy. "Le Guide Culinaire," by Auguste Escoffier, which was first published in 1903, lists several variations of the dish, including sole meunière with eggplant, with grapes, with cucumbers and with various kinds of mushrooms. However, it is likely that the dish is much older, since it is so very basic. Sole meunière has long been an extravagance, a costly fixture on the menus of many fine French restaurants. That is because it is traditionally made with Dover sole, a flat fish with delicate and buttery white meat, which separates easily from the bones. It is that combination of simplicity and luxury that makes it compelling. Elaborate adornments are not necessary, as was made clear in an edition of "Larousse Gastronomique" from the early 20th century: "Sometimes the serving of fish cooked à la meunière is decorated with slices, or half-slices, of lemon, rounds of radish, cutout pieces of beetroot and sprigs of parsley. This kind of ornament is quite useless and not at all in keeping with the recipe." Today most French cooks would agree that you need nothing more on top of your buttery sole than a lemon wedge and a hint of parsley. That is the easiest lesson you can learn from French cooking: When you have perfect ingredients, less is more. Above, "Pleuronectes Solea, the Sole."
- Skillet Use a 12-inch skillet, which should be large enough to fit the length of your fish. A heavy-duty nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron pan will help keep the fillets from sticking, making them easier to flip and keep whole. But a stainless steel pan is fine if you're careful when flipping.Spatula A tapered fish spatula makes flipping delicate fillets a bit easier, but any spatula will work.Wirecutter, a product recommendations website owned by The New York Times Company, has a guide to the best nonstick pans and spatulas.
- Sole meunière highlights the simple flavors of fresh fish, butter, lemon and parsley. Fish is the center of the dish, so using a quality fillet is important. The fish is pan-fried in clarified butter, which can take on heat without browning; a recipe is below.
- Clear, golden clarified butter can withstand heat without burning for a longer period and at a higher temperature, making it ideal for pan-frying. When you make it, you are essentially removing the water content and white milk solids from the butter. The process is simple and takes just a few minutes.
- Sole meunière is the kind of recipe that moves quickly once you start cooking, so it's best to give it your full attention. Have the ingredients ready before you begin.• Use good butter: European-style butter with a high fat content (at least 82 percent) works best here because it contains less moisture than regular butter. • If you don't want to clarify your butter, use a combination of oil and regular butter instead. You will end up with a more neutral and less buttery flavor, but the recipe will still work. (If you decide not to clarify, then it is especially important to use that high-fat, European-style butter.) Or you could use ghee, which is basically clarified butter in which the milk solids have been allowed to brown before being removed. It has a lightly caramelized, nutty flavor. • Patting the fish dry before dredging helps the flour cling evenly to the fillet, rather than clump in the damp spots. • Season the fish itself rather than seasoning the flour. This gives you more precision and control over the seasoning.• In a classic sole meunière, white pepper is used partly for aesthetics. If you want to use black pepper, that's fine. • Keep an eye on the fish: When it has finishing cooking, it should be opaque, tender and not too firm. Plunge your fork into the thickest part of the fillet. There should be no resistance. That's how you will know it's done. • Set your oven to its lowest temperature, and use it to keep the first round of fish warm. This is an easy way to make sure dinner comes to the table at the right temperature. Placing the just-cooked fish on a warm plate before it goes into the oven helps, too.
- Sole meunière is the most basic of dishes to prepare, which makes it easy to swap the fish or augment the seasonings to suit your taste. You don't need Dover sole to make this dish delectable. Instead, look for local, sustainable, flaky, mild white-fleshed fillets with a mild flavor. Other varieties of sole (including winter sole and lemon sole), halibut and flounder will work well. Or try scrod, cod, hake, trout, salmon, bass, swordfish, sardines or blackfish. Add a pinch or two of minced sturdy herbs like rosemary, thyme or savory, or ground spices such as cumin, coriander, paprika or curry powder, to the brown butter as it's simmering. If you want to make the dish more substantial, add cooked vegetables to the pan with the butter. Diced sautéed cucumber, shallot or onion, wilted spinach, grated zucchini, cubed eggplant or mushrooms would all do nicely. For a slightly more elaborate garnish that won't overwhelm the flavors of the dish, substitute other soft, leafy herbs for the parsley. Basil, tarragon, coriander and chives are good candidates. Other citrus, such as Meyer lemon, lime, grapefruit or sour orange wedges, can stand in for the usual lemon.
- Photography Food styling: Alison Attenborough. Prop styling: Beverley Hyde. Additional photography: Karsten Moran for The New York Times. Additional styling: Jade Zimmerman. Video Food styling: Chris Barsch and Jade Zimmerman. Art direction: Alex Brannian. Prop styling: Catherine Pearson. Director of photography: James Herron. Camera operators: Tim Wu and Zack Sainz. Editing: Will Lloyd and Adam Saewitz. Additional editing: Meg Felling.
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Tips:
- Ensure fresh flounder: Freshness is key for the best flavor and texture. Choose flounder with bright, clear eyes, firm flesh, and a mild, briny smell. Avoid any fish with dull eyes, slimy flesh, or a strong, fishy odor.
- Properly clean the flounder: Clean the flounder thoroughly before cooking to remove any scales, guts, or bones. Rinse the fish inside and out under cold water and pat it dry with paper towels.
- Season the fish lightly: Flounder has a delicate flavor, so don't overpower it with too much seasoning. A simple combination of salt, pepper, and lemon juice is often all that's needed.
- Cook the flounder gently: Flounder is a delicate fish, so it's important to cook it gently to prevent it from becoming tough or dry. Pan-frying or baking are good cooking methods for flounder.
- Use a flavorful sauce: A flavorful sauce can help to enhance the taste of the flounder. Try making a simple beurre blanc sauce or a lemon-herb sauce.
Conclusion:
With its mild flavor and delicate texture, flounder is a versatile fish that can be prepared in a variety of ways. Whether you pan-fry it, bake it, or grill it, flounder is sure to be a hit. Just remember to choose fresh fish, clean it properly, season it lightly, and cook it gently for the best results.
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