Whole flounder, dressed with a seafood stuffing mix of shrimp and crab.
Stuffed Whole Flounder
If you've ever visited along a coastal area like the Gulf Coast where I live, you've probably seen lights bobbing around right along the shoreline at night, and may have wondered what exactly was going on. If you've ever actually lived along the coastline, you've probably done it at least once in your lifetime.
Floundering. And no, not the kind of floundering where you have struggles or indecision! I'm talking about the kind of floundering that requires, at the least, a bright lamp like a Coleman lantern, a fishing gig, a bucket or a stringer, and, well... a lot of patience.
Just a quick reminder.... this is a blog, not just a "recipe site," and yes, there is a difference! I want to first thank all of you who have supported my work over the years, but if you aren't interested in the chit chat, info, photos, tips and such in a post, as always, you'll find the complete recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll down to the bottom of the post!Back in my younger days, we gals would usually tag along behind the guys, being anything but quiet, and thanks to the little minnows tickling at our ankles, irritating the fellas with our jumping around and giggling. I can't even count the number of times tourists who would approach us curious about what we were doing and hankering for a peek inside our buckets.
If we were lucky, we went home with a few flounder and a dozen soft shell crabs for the night, and more often than not, those flounder would end up dressed with a seafood stuffing and baked or broiled, just like this. Those days were some fun times for sure, but these days The Cajun brings home the flounder, sans the giggling disturbance, and we still enjoy those flounder stuffed most of the time.
In fact, as he was eating this Stuffed Flounder, he was absorbed in his meal and not saying a word. Thinking something was wrong, I asked if it tasted okay. He said "Oh yeah, it's delicious! It's just that stuff like this is why I love living here," and that my friends, is the God's honest truth.
If the only seafood you've ever eaten is imported, and you've never had fresh seafood right off of the shorelines of this country, you haven't eaten seafood in my opinion. C'mon down sometime and try some fresh Gulf seafood. We'd love to have ya!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking pan with foil and spray it generously with non-stick cooking spray.
For this flounder, I'm using my standard seafood stuffing mix, which can be found in full here (tap/click link). A few slices of sandwich bread, toasted, then sprinkled with water, then, set aside in a bowl and let rest for about 2 minutes.
To that, I add sauteed veggies, basic seasonings, egg, some raw shrimp and crabmeat.
Cut a slit lengthwise head to tail, down the dark side of the flounder and make pockets on both sides of the slit by using a sharp fillet knife to carefully cut along the back bones of the fish. Cut all the way to the upper and lower fins, without cutting through. Sprinkle the flounder with salt and pepper and fill the cavities of each flounder with the stuffing mix, placing each onto the prepared pan. Squeeze lemon juice over the top, and drizzle with about half of the melted butter.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until fish flakes easily, basting with the remaining butter about halfway through. To brown more on top, place the tray under the broiler with the oven door ajar, very briefly, just long enough to brown the top of the stuffing.
Serve with wedges of lemon on the side and a generous side salad.
By the way, if you can only get your hands on flounder filets, you can still do this! Just cut each half filet into half width-wise, rather than length-wise. Lay out each half in buttered baking dish, top with stuffing, and top with the other half of fish, slightly mashing. Bake as above, checking at 20 minutes. May also prepare as roulades by placing stuffing on widest part of half filet and rolling fish up around stuffing. Secure with toothpick and place into baking sheet.
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Images and Full Post Content including Recipe ©Deep South Dish. Recipes are offered for your own personal use only and while pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, please do not copy and paste to repost or republish elsewhere such as other Facebook pages, blogs, websites, or forums without explicit prior permission. All rights reserved.
Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.
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| A Henckels 7-inch Fillet knife makes an easy job of preparing a flounder for stuffing. |
How to Prepare Flounder for Stuffing:
This video shows the process to completely debone a rather large flounder for stuffing, which is actually the most efficient way to go and leads to the least amount of waste of the meat. At home, generally we only do the second half of this process, making a slit in the flounder and then, using a fillet knife, cutting carefully along the bones and out toward the fins to open up the flounder. After cooking, we first eat the outer flesh and stuffing down to the bone, lifting out the bone in one piece, and then eating the lower portion of the flounder from under where the bones were. Flounder are very bony fish, so be careful of all bones either way you go, but most especially of the tiny bones around the fins.
Thank you for supporting my work! Please note that Images and Full Post Content including Recipe ©Deep South Dish. Recipes are offered for your own personal use only and while pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, do not copy and paste post or recipe text to repost or republish to any social media (such as other Facebook pages, etc.), blogs, websites, forums, or any print medium, without explicit prior permission. Unauthorized use of content from ©Deep South Dish is a violation of both the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and copyright law. All rights reserved.
Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.
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