Recipe: Local Fluke with Lemon, Parsley and Capers

If you're having Long Island chardonnay for dinner, this is the dish for you. The butter and lemon complement both the creamy smoothness and citrus of the wine.

Chef Arie Pavlou at my restaurant, in Aquebogue, makes local fluke a la Grenobloise, which is with butter, lemon, parsley and capers. He might throw in a touch of white wine as well, which you can also do at home.

He said the difference between fluke and flounder is that one is a predator and has teeth, and the other is a scavenger and has no teeth. But I forget which is which!

Ingredients:

• Fresh fillets of North Fork fluke - about 6 oz per person, although the size of the fillets is really up to you
• One oz. of butter per serving. For example, if making 4 servings, use 4 oz. or a half stick of butter
• A few tbsp. of oil or butter for pan-sauteeing the fish
• About 1/4 cup flour on a plate, to which salt and pepper have been added
• One lemon, the juice of
• Fresh parsley, chopped
• Capers - as few or as many as you like
• White wine - optional

Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat until it starts to get toasty brown. Skim off the foam. There may be solids in the bottom of the frying pan ...  the milk solids. Pour the liquid part of the melted butter into a separate small saucepan, leaving behind the solids as much as possible. Discard the solids and clean out the frying pan.

Put a couple tbsp. of oil or a couple of oz. of butter into the frying pan and melt.

Place the fillets one at a time on the dish of salted and peppered flour, turn the fillet over to lightly dust both sides with flour.

Pan-fry the fillets over low-medium heat for a few minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, heat up the melted butter that had been removed to the separate small saucepan. Add the juice of one lemon. Add some chopped fresh parsley. Throw in some capers, and optionally, white wine. Salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the cooked fluke fillets to plates and spoon a little sauce on each fillet.