I should really entitle this post “Almond Crusted Anything” but since my favorite preparation of this recipe is with flounder I will name it as such. I love this recipe because it is so simple and with the exception of pan frying (although you could always bake it!), is extremely healthy! It is so hard to get my hubby to eat any seafood besides shrimp and since I love seafood so much I feel like doing cartwheels anytime I get a thumbs up on a fish recipe, lol. I have had almond crusted or pecan crusted flounder at restaurants before and absolutely loved it, so when I decided I wanted to attempt to make it at home my original plan was to just find a recipe online and go for it. The problem was that so many of the recipes I came across included some pretty weird ingredients or wanted you to combine breadcrumbs with the crushed nuts and I wanted it to be simply almond crusted in order to achieve that really wholesome nutty flavor. So after deeming Pinterest useless on this one (gasp! lol) I decided to just use pulverized almonds as the breading on my flounder, figuring that it would work seeing as how I recently buzzed up some oats and used those in place of oat flour, same idea right? The finished product was amazing! I’m sure everyone is sitting there like “umm, duh! You know a million people have probably done that before, right?” lol, but hey it’s new to me so I’m thrilled to have figured it out and to be able to try it out on all different seafood and meats from this point forward! I don’t really pay as much attention as I should to eating “whole” so when it happens by accident and is this delicious I like to give myself a big ol’ pat on the back 🙂

p.s. sorry for the lack of pictures this time! Since I was expecting this to be a complete fail I didn’t document the cooking process at all but I will update this post with pictures just as soon as I make it again which I promise will be very soon!

ALMOND CRUSTED FLOUNDER (makes 4 servings)

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pieces of flounder, skin and bones removed
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsp butter
• canola or vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

Step 1: Start by blending your almonds to a fine consistency (mine was a little more coarse than flour but any consistency will likely do, if you prefer your breading to be a little more coarse go for it), I did so by using a coffee grinder as I think it is the easiest way. You can always use your food processor if you don’t have a coffee grinder, I just hate having to lug that giant thing out 🙂

Step 2:  In a medium sized dish beat the two eggs with about a tablespoon of water. In a separate bowl of similar size, season the flour with salt and pepper (about a 1/2 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp. of salt will probably do but it all depends on your preference).

Step 3: Now you are ready to bread your fillets. Working one at a time, coat each piece of flounder with flour then dip into the egg mixture and finally into the crushed almonds.

Step 4: Once all of your fillets have been breaded, heat the butter and oil (about 2 tbsp. or enough to coat the bottom of the pan) in a large pan over medium-low heat. Once your butter/oil mixture is heated place the fillets into the pan (if you do not have a large enough pan just work in batches, switching out the oil and butter if it becomes too brown) and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until almond crusting is crispy and browned. Enjoy!

If you are looking for a lighter preparation of this meal try spraying with a bit of cooking spray and baking at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. If you don’t like flounder try on another firm white fish or on shrimp, scallops or chicken!