Foodie Thursday

by Nigel Bloxham from Crab House Café (RMC Books)

A great fish, the flounder.  It’s found in the sea & estuaries at certain times of the year.  It likes fresh water & comes up the estuaries to breed.  It’s very popular with the Americans – they’ve got huge estuaries so they eat a lot of flounder.  It’s often considered a poor man’s plaice.  It’s sometimes described as muddy in flavour but I don't think it is.  I think it’s just a characteristic fish that’s strong flavoured, & can take strong flavours with it like garlic, chilli & ginger.  That’s why we serve it Chinese style with some Chinese-style vegetables.  It’s great & very easy to do – a great supper dish.

Serves 4

Prep time 15 mins

Cooking time 15 mins

Ingredients

4 whole flounder (skinned and trimmed - get your fishmonger to do it!), approx. 340g each (or substitute with plaice, brill, witch, megrim or dab)

4 tbsp of garlic & ginger mix (see recipe below)

Mixed Chinese-style vegetables (i.e. bean sprouts, mooli radishes, water chestnuts, shredded cabbage – whatever you’ve got around)

1 glass white wine

Fresh chilli, finely chopped (quantity depends on your preference for heat… ½ red & ½ green chilli per fish)

1 lime, sliced

4 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp rapeseed or any other oil

Method

Pre-heat your oven to around 200C / gas mark 6.

Place your Chinese-style vegetables on a baking tray.

Score the flounder 3-4 times across the backbone.  Put the garlic & ginger mix into the cuts you’ve made.  Place the fish on top of the vegetables.  Top the fish with the chopped chilli & slices of lime.

Pour the wine over the fish & vegetables, wrap the tray in foil & put into the oven.  Bake for around 15 mins.

To serve:

While the fish is cooking, pour the soy sauce & oil into a bottle & give it a good shake to mix.

Once the fish is cooked, use a fish slice to put each portion onto the plates.  Put the fish slice under the thick, heavy end of the fish & pick it up along with the vegetables.

Pour the soy sauce & oil mixture onto the tray, then pour this from the corner of the tray onto the plates as a dressing.  The soy will split & make pretty patterns.  This is great for dipping your fish into as you’re eating.

Serve with rice.

Top Tip

Try rice wine or sake instead of white wine (or cider).

Garlic & ginger mix (Chinese style)

Ingredients

2 bulbs garlic

Root ginger, about the size of your thumb

1 tbsp fish or soy sauce

2 stalks lemon grass

Method

Chop the bottom roots off the garlic & pull the wood from the centre of the bulb.  Put into a food processor.

Peel the ginger.   Don't worry about getting every last bit of skin off.  Chop roughly & put into the food processor.

Pour in the fish or soy sauce.

Chop the lemongrass into small bits & add to the food processor.

Blitz until it reaches a stuffing-like consistency. This mixture sometimes goes quite green.  Don't worry!  This is perfectly normal & the colour will disappear in the cooking.