Flounder (Crappie) Francaise

I’m always on the lookout for fish recipes and especially those where we can use the crappie that is generously given to us by our fishing friends.  When I saw Chef Dennis’ recipe for Flounder Francaise on his “Ask Chef Dennis” blog, I knew it would fit-the-bill.  This dish is more complicated than our normal crappie in lemon, butter, caper sauce but I had to give it a try.   

Since his recipe is only for two servings, I doubled it to get the recipe below.  You can click on the above link for the original recipe and pics of the chef’s dish. 

Crappie Francaise – Adapted from Ask Chef Dennis 

Ingredients:

Fish

1 lb. crappie filets

½ cup flour

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil -for frying

2 tbsp unsalted butter -for frying

Batter

2 large eggs

1½ tbsp water

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tbsp Romano cheese -grated

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

2 tsp fresh Italian parsley -finely chopped

Lemon Butter Sauce

1 tbsp shallots -finely minced. (or use garlic)

¼ cup dry white wine

¾ cup chicken broth

2 tbsp lemon juice

4 tbsp unsalted butter -divided: 2 tbsp to saute the garlic and 2 tbsp to thicken the sauce.

1 tbsp all-purpose flour -to roll butter in to make beurre manie.

½ tsp Italian parsley -finely chopped

Instructions:

Crappie

Use paper towels to pat dry the fish filets and season with S&P.

Add the flour, salt and black pepper to one bowl and mix well.

Add the lightly beaten eggs, water, Romano cheese, flour, garlic powder, onion powder, and chopped parsley to a bowl and mix all the ingredients together. This is the egg batter aka egg wash.

Add the butter and olive oil to a large frying pan on medium-high heat

Dredge the fish in the seasoned flour, fully coating the fillet.

Dip the floured fish into the egg wash mixture and completely coat the fillet.

When the pan is hot, add the battered fish to the hot pan. Cook for 2 -3 minutes per side until the battered fillet is golden brown. (I went past golden but it was fine).

Place the cooked crappie onto a baking sheet or casserole and place them on the middle rack of 130 degree preheated oven to keep warm while you make the lemon butter sauce. (This step is different in the original recipe for the thicker flounder).

Lemon Butter Sauce

Add two tablespoons of butter to a small saucepan over medium heat.

Add the garlic to the pan and cook for one minute.

Add the chicken broth, white wine, and lemon juice to the saucepot and bring to a light boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low.

Add the beurre manie (the butter pieces rolled in flour) to the pan and whisk it to thicken the lemon butter sauce. (I  think it needed more flour)

Taste and re-season with salt and pepper if necessary and add the chopped Italian parsley to the sauce.

Remove the Crappie Francaise from the oven and serve with the lemon butter sauce.

We served it with a side salad and this is my plate.  I used the delicious leftover dressing from the Nicoise Salad for mine.

The Verdict:

We all thought it was very good, especially with the sauce which needed to be thicker.  I really liked the crispy coating the batter made so I plan to use it again.  With the nearly two sticks of butter used, I think Paula Deen would have loved this dish.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/19/23 meal dates