Grilled Flounder: A Tastier Recipe With Fewer Ingredients

In the northern part of Turkey where the seawater is colder, I think, we fail to give the bounties from the sea their due to the cooking techniques we’re blindly attached to and our prejudice against different recipes.

 

Allow me to say that the tastiest turbot I’ve eaten so far was in Elcano in the Basque region of Spain. Again, in Getaria in the same city, Kaia Kaipe impressed my palate with the dish made with a flounder-sized turbot boosted with a basic yet delicious sauce.

 

A lazy, hence a little fatty member of the deep waters with spiky buttons, turbot, the prince of the sea, has almost transparent and tasty meat which reaches its taste peak when grilled or fried in a pan.

 

Another member of the same family, only this time without buttons, flounder may fall behind trout for it is less fatty for some people. As it looks like embellished with lace thanks to its little gills, it is found in shallow waters.

 

Thanks to the flounder dishes I ate in Spain and their impressive tastes I keep remembering, I frequently cook flounder at my home as well. Today, I’d like to share with you a grilled flounder recipes prepared with the sauce and the technique at Kaia Kaipe.

 

Ingredients

 

Two flounders, each weighing 1.5 kg

White balsamic

Parsley

Olive oil

1 green lime

1 lemon

Garlic

Himalayan salt

Black pepper

Coriander

 

For both the fish and the meat, I prefer to use a grill made of cast iron, not steel. As for such grilling recipes, I always use a robata grill. I adjust the grill height to 18 or 20 centimeters for this recipe.

 

As you know, the first step to the recipe is cleaning the grill. Following the first step, I recommend you to cut an onion into two, dunk them into olive oil, and rub them all over the grill with the help of a fork. Because, as this will prevent the meat from sticking, it will also give a slight aroma to complement the sauce.

 

 I buy every seafood from Urla Özbek. You should also source it from a trusted place that will provide fresh seafood. In order for the sauce to easily penetrate the fish, make thin slashes over the founder or the turbot and then massage them with olive oil. Add some salt and black pepper and put them over the grill.

 

Whisk up white balsamic, olive oil, lemon, minced parsley, salt, black pepper and one mashed garlic clove for the sauce. After 5-10 minutes (depending on the size of the fish), brush the sauce over the fish, and then flip it over. Do the same thing for the other side of the fish and grill it for 2/3 of the time it took for the other side.

 

It will be thoroughly grilled in a short while as long as it is fresh enough. In the end you will achieve almost transparent tasteful meat.

 

For those who’d like it with some Far-Eastern flavors, I recommend crowning its sauce with some coriander and white wine.

 

As I always say, we don’t need for a delectable taste the greenery growing in the far corners of the world or the kinds of fruits that no one even heard mentioned before. When you cook the quality ingredients with the right techniques, you can also achieve such tastes that your family will call you the chef of the house.

 

For those who say they won’t be able to make this recipe for some reason and they are still up for the best turbot they can find, I might add Kahraman in Sarıyer, Istanbul as well as Hanımeli in Karaburun to the Spanish restaurants I mentioned above.

 

 

 

Bon appétit and enjoy the taste of life…