Easy Pan-Fried Flounder

When we were little, I loved bringing home a pile of fish and pointing out the biggest fish to mom (which, at times, we were all claiming we caught) and dad would make his special breading to fry them up early in the morning. That's really the only way I liked fish growing up. Not smoked, or grilled, and definitely not baked.

Now that I'm older, I've been trying different types of fish, as well as different ways of cooking it. (For example, click here to see my simple Lemony Salmon Pouches!) I was shopping around the store this week, looking for a decent fish. I found a package of wild caught flounder. According to my hubby's parents, getting wild caught fish is super important! Otherwise, it tends to taste pretty funky. It only cost me $3.99 for 5 decent sized fillets. I made them all at once, and we heated the leftovers in a pan the next day for fish sandwiches and fish tacos. Worked perfectly!

I was very impressed by the flavor and texture of the flounder and we will definitely be buying it again! :) Now to show you how we cooked it.....

Since I had absolutely no clue how to cook flounder, we used a simple pan fry method that worked pretty well. Now that we know we like it, I'll probably try some different methods. (If any of you have some ideas, please let me know!)

Look how nice these fillets are!

I seasoned them up with salt, pepper, and some lemon-pepper.

Flip and repeat on the other side.

Lightly coat with flour.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat. 

Once hot, pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in the center.

Place fillets in the pan. 

(Don't move them around too much once they are in the pan. Let them sear, so they crisp up.)

After about 4-5 minutes, flip over.

Let cook for about 4 minutes longer. 

(The fish is done when you can easily flake it apart with a fork, and the inside is opaque.)

Simple as that!

We served it with a lights salad and fresh lemon wedges.

{It was so good drizzled with lemon juice!}

Look at the crispness! Yum.

Don't worry, the moist-looking spots are not oil, it's the lemon juice. :)