Big red balloons, bright pink tulips, a robin's nest full of peeping babies. Simple beautiful things. It's Spring, and it's a great time remember all the wonderful things about it. Winter can feel really long here. We had a sneak peek of Spring in March, but now, it's real thing.
This week's French Friday with Dorie recipe fits like a hand in glove with the list of simple beautiful things. Almond Flounder Meuniere. It's fun to say and even better to eat.
Meunière: adj. meunière (from French) rolled in flour and fried in butter (of fish) (pronounced men-yare) is very close to the famous fish dish that made Julia Child fall in love with French food. Very tender fish, butter and almonds. Just for fun, please reread this paragraph outloud in your best Julia voice.
Welcome back. I hope you had a little chuckle and sweet memory of her.
At this point, I would suggest calling the fish market and finding some flounder or sole.
Our market didn't have flounder, but did have sole. I ordered 2 filets, which were about 8 oz in total. They were perfect filets. I makes me a little jealous of those of you much closer to seafood markets on the coasts.
The recipe goes so quickly, you'll want to have any other parts of your meal ready and waiting. We've had very little butter in our diet since Gary had his cardiac procedure about six weeks ago. I used Egg Beaters instead of the yolk and reduced the butter just a bit. I was thinking about trying the yogurt butter, but just couldn't risk it burning or acting weird, ruining the fish.
After the fish was bathed in the light wash of egg, it was sprinkled with an almond/flour/lemon mix. I so wish you could all have smelled the brown butter, nut combination. It's so wonderful. The fish cook very quickly. And brown in the butter.
A gentle, quick flip, two more minutes, and dinner was ready. I used slivered toasted almonds instead of sliced almonds, since they were handy. I couldn't resist adding a touch of chives.
By the way, how do you prepare chives? I've always cut them with the scissors. You get little itty bitty rings. My grandma did it that way, and so d0 my mom & dad. I've neve thought about chopping them with a knife. Just wondering.
As we've been cooking our way though Around My French Table, some recipes stand out. This is one of those for us. As I was shooting the last photos, I could hear Gary in the dining room ooo-ing and ahhing over the delicious flavor of the fish. That was the best part of the recipe! Happy Spring, and in the spirit of Julia and wonderful French food, Bon appetit!