We are really fortunate to have terrific access to the wholesale fruit and food markets as well as plenty of farmer's markets here in Chicago.
One such place is Isaacson and Stein Fish Company - located on the corner of Fulton and Halsted. They supply fish to many restaurants in the city and have a retail store open to the public. The prices are terrific - the fish is beautiful - and for me, at least, it is on the way from my office to my car - so I pass by it every day!
So yesterday I went in, got my plastic gloves and a bag, and started looking to see what they had for dinner that evening. And what did I find? Fluke. Fresh. Wild Caught in the Atlantic. Whole and/or Filleted (their staff does an amazing job cleaning the fish - so for me, it is worth the extra money). I bought 3 lovely fillets (a little over 1 lb.) for $8.00. Enough to feed the family, plus maybe a little left over depending if the kids and Jay liked it.
Fluke (aka Flounder) is something we used to eat a lot when we lived in New York - it is mostly found in the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and is a "flat" fish - so the fillets are relatively thin, but still meaty enough to not fall apart when cooking.
Fish like this just needs to be simply prepared, so I just sprinkled it on both sides with salt and pepper, then took about 1 tablespoon of butter, melted that in a saute pan and quickly browned the fish on either side (about 2 minutes on the first then 1 minute on the other side). So easy to do. You know the fish is done when it is just opaque and flakes a bit.
Just wonderful! Buttery, flakey - even Jay (husband) loved it - and he doesn't like fish!
I served this with a crisp salad of bok choy, napa cabbage, sliced carrots, sliced scallions, watercress, sliced cucumbers and fresh parsley, mint and basil. The dressing was asian inspired (see previous posts) but you could do anything.
Here is the link to Isaacson and Stein Fish Company - check it out if you haven't gone!
http://www.isaacsonandsteinfishcompany.com/
Enjoy!
