What to do with those thin fish fillets...

[Constance]

I bought some flounder fillets at Sam's last week, and they must have been little bitty fish, because the fillets were small very thin. I didn't want to fry them, so I came up with with this:

Stuffed Flounder Fillets

8 thin flounder fillets
Cajun Seasoning
½ cup butter
½ cup diced onion
½ cup diced celery
1 box chicken flavored dry stuffing mix
1 can crab meat, drained, liquid reserved
1 can small shrimp, drained, liquid reserved

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put vegetables and butter in bowl in microwave, and cook until butter is melted and vegetables softened, about 1 minute 45 seconds, depending on the microwave. Or saute in skillet. Mix together in a bowl with stuffing mix, crab meat, shrimp and reserved liquid from seafood.

Place 4 fillets in sprayed or buttered baking dish. Sprinkle lightly with Cajun seasoning. Spread 2/3 of stuffing mix over top of fillets. Top with remaining fillets, and again sprinkle with seasoning mix. Spoon the rest of the stuffing loosely over the top.

Cover baking dish and bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Uncover and cook 5 minutes more.

It turned out to be really good. I can imagine getting something like this at a restaurant in one of those individual au gratin dishes.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Excellent Miss Connie....I had "stuffed" flounder once..can't remember where or when, (I wasn't at your house was I???) but they had done exactly what you did. Used two filets with stuffing between.

 

[Constance]

Gee, Bob, was that you?

Ya know, we don't have much of a selection when it comes to seafood, so we have to work with what we get. I have also tried stacking 2 fillets together and treating them as one.
I'd love to be able to go to a seafood market and buy a whole fish!

 

[BreezyCooking]

Constance - I make virtually the same thing all the time, although using different stuffing variations. And I do use the little individual oval baking dishes - one filet on the bottom, stuffing in the middle, 2nd filet on top. Those little shallow oval dishes are fabulous to have on hand for all sorts of individual servings. I also use mine for individual servings of Shrimp Parmesan, Crab Imperial, sides of pasta or vegetables when I don't want them mixing with another dish on the plate, etc., etc.

 

[Caine]

Omaha Steaks has something similar to this in their All-American Package, but they're sole fillets rolled up around the stuffing, which is bread, crab, and scallops. They ain't bad!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Miss Connie if ya got any more of those little devils....Soak them in buttermilk for a couple of hours...pick each piece up and let it drain for just a second... bread in corn meal/flour/salt/pepper mixture...drop them in hot peanut oil...Walk over to the sink and wash your hands..dry them off...have a sip of beer...... have another sip of beer...Now quickly take them up on paper towels....Tell Kim to "get back"

 

[Constance]

That sounds so good, Bob. They're just the right size for that. I've just been trying to avoid fried foods.
Looks like I need to avoid some other things, too. I weighed this morning.
Thing being, with a whole stick of butter in the dressing, I doubt last nights fish was exactly low-fat.

 

[Maverick2272]

Naw, that's not unhealthy! Now, spreading a rich cheese sauce over the whole thing, that would be unhealthy! But good too.
We buy a lot of Talapia at the store as it is one of the cheaper ones, I think this would be a great way to use them, thanks!

 

[~emz~]

That sounds delicious. My family really likes fish but I only really know two ways to cook it! Do you think your recipe would work with sole fillets instead? That's normally what we buy. I'm not sure what the difference is between the two...

 

[Constance]

I think it would be fine with sole or tilapia either one.

 

[AMSeccia]

Creative and yummy sounding, I love the way you think ... there is, in fact, a frozen food service product that is just that, stuffed flounder. I used to serve alot of it in a local supper club I worked at. Being homemade, I'm sure yours was better, but we steamed it and served with drawn butter. I always thought a drizzle of bearnaise would have been nice with it and had a couple of regulars who would order it that way from time to time.

I don't see much flounder in our offerings around here. Mostly salmond, cod, lake perch ... and tilapia has really gone mainstream. We used to serve that as a high-end special years ago and now it's 2nd only to pollack in affordability at the grocery store!

One of my favorite things to do with any mild white fish is to spread a thin layer of dijon mustard (or mayo if you aren't a mustard fan) and top with crushed crackers and a drizzle of butter. Bake in a hot oven just until it flakes ... simple and even kids like it!

 

[Constance]

One of the things that made the dish extra good, I think, was that the dressing on top gets a little crunchy from the taking the lid off for the last few minutes of cooking.
The Bearnaise sauce sounds good...I may try it that way sometime.

Your method of cooking the fish with cracker crumb and butter sounds good, quick and easy. I'll have to try that.

 

[LadyCook61]

Miss Connie if ya got any more of those little devils....Soak them in buttermilk for a couple of hours...pick each piece up and let it drain for just a second... bread in corn meal/flour/salt/pepper mixture...drop them in hot peanut oil...Walk over to the sink and wash your hands..dry them off...have a sip of beer...... have another sip of beer...Now quickly take them up on paper towels....Tell Kim to "get back"

I just bought some flounder today, this recipe sounds good.

 

[archiduc]

Hi Constance,

Here is a recipe which uses fillets of sole but possibly you could use small thin fillets of other fish.

Ingredients.
4 fillets of sole
salt, pepper and lemon juice
4 sticks or strips of potato cut as for chips, 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick

beaten egg and dried breadcumbs (best to be homemade) for coating

Filling - hollandaise sauce

For serving - 4 thin slices of lemon and deep fried, curly parsley. The parsley needs to be wash and dried very, very thoroughly.

Deep fat fryer at 360F

Method
1. Wash and dry fillets if necessary. Place the fillets on a board, skin side up. Season with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice.
2. Place 1 potato stick at the head end of the fillet. Carefully roll the fillet, from the head end to the tail around the piece of potato. Repeat with the remaining fillets.
3. Turn the fillets so that they are standing up and make sure that they will stand up alone. This usually means holding the fillet in the left hand and adjusting the level of the potato with the right hand so that the fillets will stand alone.
4. Carefully dip the fillets in egg and breadcrumbs - you could do this twice to ensure even covering. You could prepare ahead to this point and refrigerate.
5. Carefully place the fillets in a frying basket, making sure that they are standing upright, gently lower into the fat and deep fry until golden brown.
6. Remove from the fat, drain, remove the potato stick.
7. Have ready 4 warmed plates and put a slice of lemon in the centre of each.
8. Place each fillet on a slice of lemon and fill the centre (the space left by removing the potato stick) with hollandise sauce. Spoon a little extra around the fish.
8. Garnish with deep fried curly leaf parsley and serve.

To make deep fried parsley, the parsley must be washed and dried very thoroughly. Place in the deep fat fryer and remove when it comes to the top of the oil. Drain on kitchen paper.

Regards.
Archiduc

 

[Constance]

That sounds awesome, Archiduc!

 

[AllenOK]

Last year, at the club I work at, we tried a stuffed tilapia recipe. I was originally planning on doing something similar to what you had done, but the Chef wanted us to use a shrimp mousse for the stuffing, and he wanted to make the single fish fillet into a "cone" shape. He told us that he used to do it years ago, by making a mold out of foil, wrapping the fish fillet into a cone shape, and inserting it into the mold (the foil held the fish in place), then poaching the fish so it would hold it's shape. Once the fish cooked, take it out, stuff it, and hold it cold until we got an order in, then bake it for a bit to heat it up, and finish in the salamander (kitchen term for a broiler) to brown the top. We sauced it with a shrimp/shallot/cream sauce.

Now I'm getting ideas. My other half bought some tilapia fillet, and they're in the freezer, just starting to call my name.

 

[LadyCook61]

archiduc, that sound so good, thanks for sharing.

 

[BrazenAmateur]

I would have likely just done a meuniere or some approximation thereof. I do it all the time with frozen tilapia and it tastes about ten times more expensive than it is to make.

Of course, it also has outrageous quantities of butter in it, so I should probably prepare and eat it less often, lol.

 

[Constance]

You you mind sharing your recipe for fish meuniere? I'm trying to watch my weight, but I allow myself an occasional splurge.

 

[BrazenAmateur]

I probably oversimplify it, but it's a really easy recipe.

First, I like to have clarified butter on hand at all times, so go ahead and clarify some if you don't already have it. It's got a higher smoke point and I use it for a lot of my sauteeing.

(I'm going to leave measuring out entirely, just use what you need, I don't know how much you're making).

Prep:

Make sure fillets are absolutely dry and then season with s&p, then dredge in flour lightly.

Get some capers and rinse/drain them. Use as many as you want to eat. I love capers so I use a ton of them.

Add butter to pan and melt over low heat. Raise the flame a little and heat until butter becomes light brown, swirling occasionally. Be careful not to pass the smoke point. When the butter stops foaming, add your fish. Cook briefly on each side until golden.

At this point, I like to tilt the pan and *rapidly* spoon melted butter over the fish, further coloring it and making it even more deliciously unhealthy. I learned this from an instructional video with Barton Seaver cooking rockfish.

I will now squirt in a fair quantity of fresh lemon juice as well as add my capers. You really don't want to cook the capers for a long time, a minute or so in the pan is more than enough.

In the timing of all this, it's important that you don't overcook your fish.

Remove fish and allow to drain. I like to remove the capers seperately, then whisk the butter around a little bit and pour some on top of each piece of fish, then topping with capers. Throw on some chiffonaded parsely if you've got any.

If you want an additional neato garnish, you can add thin lemon slices to the pan just before adding the fish. Let them caramelize a little bit in the butter and then move them aside, still in the pan, to cook the fillets. This may still require an additional infusion of lemon juice, but do it to taste.