Whole flounder in the oven

An ideal option for dinner when time is short – whole flounder in the oven. This cooking method is an excellent way to preserve all the beneficial qualities of the fish while not altering its natural taste. Flounder is perfect for freezing, making it convenient to use as fresh, chilled, or even frozen fish for baking. It is important to ensure that the fish is not covered with a thick layer of ice and retains its characteristic fish aroma without any strange smells after defrosting.

Flounder has very tender meat with fat, so there is no need for any special manipulations with the fish – it is delicious on its own. However, the dish still needs a touch of sophistication. To achieve this, the carcass is lightly marinated with lemon juice, garlic, and herbs, and then baked in the oven, after which it acquires a refined aroma of freshness that only emphasizes the delicate taste of flounder. Below we will show you a simple way to cook flounder in the oven in foil.

Cooking time: 50 minutes.

Yield: 2 servings.

Caloric content: 128 kcal per 100 grams of dish.

Ingredients

• flounder – 2 pcs. with a total weight of 700 g;
• lemon juice – 1 tbsp;
• white onion – 300 g;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• special seasoning for fish – 2 tsp;
• dill – several sprigs;
• odorless vegetable oil – 3 tbsp;
• rock salt – 1 tsp without a heaping;
• freshly ground pepper – to taste.

Preparation

1. Prepare the ingredients. Two small flounders can be replaced by one large one.

2. Start with preparing the fish for baking. If it has a head, it can be left on, without cutting. Remove the side fins and tail with kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. Clean and wash the belly from the black membrane. Flounder does not have scales, so there is no need to scrape it. However, especially large specimens may have small spines on the dark side of the carcass which need to be cut off.

3. Now, on the outer (dark) side of the carcass, make wide diagonal cross cuts. It is better to cut through the backbone and stop just before reaching the lower (light) side. Marinade will easily get into these cuts, and when serving, the fish will be easier to divide into even pieces.

4. For the marinade, combine vegetable oil, fish seasoning, and lemon juice in a deep bowl.

5. Add salt.

6. Add freshly ground pepper and garlic.

7. Season everything with finely chopped dill and start mixing until the salt dissolves.

8. Coat the flounder with marinade on both sides, and fill the cuts with the mixture as well. Let the carcass sit like this for about 10 minutes.

9. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 degrees and slice the onion into half-rings.

10. Line a baking tray with foil or parchment paper. Place the onion slices in the center and spread them out.

11. Place the fish on the prepared bed with the dark side up.

12. Cover everything with foil so that it creates some air space inside and does not touch the flounder. To do this, fold the edges of the bottom foil like sides and secure the upper cover on them. Bake the tray on the middle level of the preheated oven.

13. After half an hour, remove the top foil and leave the fish in the oven for another 5 minutes to brown.

14. After the specified time, remove the tray from the oven. The herbs that were in the marinade have dried under high temperatures – they can be scraped aside when serving (they have fulfilled their role).

Served is a small baked flounder in the oven whole for one serving. The juicy onion bed can serve as a wonderful side dish. However, if desired, the fish can be served with mashed potatoes or rice. The upper skin is usually not eaten; it is simply removed and set aside, while the tender, juicy meat, infused with the marinade, begs to be eaten.

Give it a try, enjoy your meal!