Pan-Cooked Thin Fish Fillets

You can call this sautéing or panfrying; the differences are subtle enough not to matter much. Both depend on a fair amount of fat and usually a coating of some kind—it’s optional, but a light coating of flour or cornmeal, for example, promotes browning and helps keep the fish moist The main recipe is the classic preparation for fillets of sole (meunière), which works equally well for any thin fillets. Note that you must work in two batches, because you can’t crowd or fit this many fillets in the pan at once. Put the first two on plates and serve piping hot while the second batch cooks. It takes only a few minutes.

Four 6-ounce fillets of flounder, sole, or any other 1/4-inch-thick fish

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons butter or more oil

All-purpose flour or cornmeal for dredging

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Lemon wedges for serving

• Warm 4 dinner plates in a 200 F oven. Sprinkle the fillets with salt and pepper.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter. When the butter foam subsides, dredge two of the fillets, one by one, in the flour, shaking off any excess, and add them to the pan. Raise the heat to high and cook the fillets until golden on each side, 4 to 5 minutes total. Transfer to the warm serving plates and return to the oven if you like. Wipe the pan and repeat with the remaining fillets.
• Turn the heat down to medium and add the remaining butter to the pan. Cook until the butter foams, a minute or two. Add the lemon juice and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, for about 15 seconds. Pour the sauce over the fillets. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately with the lemon wedges.

Pan-Cooked Thick Fish Fillets.
• Here you might fit all the fillets in one large skillet: Cook the fillets for about 5 minutes per side, turning once. Any thick fillet will still be firm and juicy when done but will have turned opaque inside; a thin-bladed knife will pass through it fairly easily.

Pan-Cooked Whole Fish.
• This works best with small fish, those that weigh 12 ounces or less: Remove the heads from the fish if you like (or if necessary to get them in the pan) and make sure they’re gutted and scaled. Put the fish in the pan, one at a time, taking care not to overcrowd, and cook, turning only once, for a total of 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. When done the fish will have turned opaque inside; a thin-bladed knife will pass through it fairly easily.

Pan-Cooked Shrimp, Scallops, or Squid.
• Shrimp can be peeled or not, as you like; squid can be left whole or cut into rings. Proceed with the recipe, shaking the skillet or stirring with a spoon or spatula to brown the seafood on all sides. Total cooking time won’t be more than 3 minutes or so. Shrimp are ready when they turn pink but are still a little translucent inside; scallops are ready when they’re firm but not tough; and get the squid out of the pan the second it starts to shrink and turn opaque.

MAKES: 4 servings

TIME: 20 minutes