Skip to main content

Recipe

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Roasted flounder with lemony butter beans

Prep time: 
10
Cook time: 
30
Skill level: 
Medium
Serves: 
4
Whole roasted flounder with caper and tarragon butter, served over lemony butter beans and kale on a blue and white platter.

Drizzle the caper-and-tarragon butter generously over the roasted flounder. Its rich, tangy flavour pairs perfectly with the creamy butter beans. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Alice Zaslavsky is the host of A Bite To Eat with Alice, weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV and anytime on ABC iview. Alice is the resident culinary correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio, a food literacy advocate, bestselling cookbook author, and creator of Phenomenom, a free digital toolbox helping teachers slip more serves of veg into the curriculum.

Jump to Recipe

Alice knows that Rhonda Burchmore loves to fish just as much as she loves to eat it, so she's showing her a quick, simple and delicious way to cook flounder. 

Whole flounder on a white plate, ready for preparation, with a cleaver and knife on a wooden board.

When roasting whole flounder, keep the skin on — it helps lock in moisture and adds extra flavour when crisped-up in the oven. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

This dish keeps things fuss-free — roasting the whole fish to perfection and pairing it with creamy, lemony butter beans and a rich caper and tarragon brown butter. 

A pan of sautéed butter beans with kale, onion, and garlic being stirred with a wooden spoon.

To keep the kale vibrant and tender, add it at the end of cooking. Just a few minutes is all it takes to wilt perfectly. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

It's an easy yet elegant way to enjoy fresh seafood, with big flavours that let the fish shine and is sure to impress at any dinner table. 

Whole roasted flounder on a parchment-lined baking tray, glistening with oil.

For perfectly roasted flounder, cook until the flesh is just opaque and easily flakes away from the bone. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Tips

  • Choose your beans wisely: You can use either tinned or dried butter beans, but if using dried, be sure to cook them according to the package instructions before adding them to the dish.
  • Gutting the flounder: Make sure your flounder is pre-gutted before cooking. If you're unsure, ask your fishmonger to do it for you to save time and effort.
  • Don't overcook the fish: Flounder is delicate, so roast just until the flesh is opaque and flakes easily with a fork, to keep it tender and juicy.
  • Crispy skin trick: Pat the flounder dry before roasting and drizzle with olive oil to help the skin crisp-up beautifully in the oven.
  • Balance the butter beans: If the beans start to dry out while cooking, add a splash of extra stock or water to keep them creamy and smooth.
  • Enhance with lemon: A final squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the fish and beans brightens the dish and balances the richness of the butter.

Here’s the full list of recipes from Season 2 of A Bite To Eat With Alice.

This recipe appears in A Bite to Eat with Alice, a new nightly cooking show on ABC iview and weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV.

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Roasted flounder with lemony butter beans

Prep time: 
10
Cook time: 
30
Skill level: 
Medium
Serves: 
4

Ingredients

For the flounder

  • 1 whole flounder (about 600g), cleaned 
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil 
  • Salt flakes, to season 

 Lemony butter beans 

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil 
  • 1 medium brown onion, diced 
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 
  • 2 x 400g cans butter beans, rinsed and drained 
  • 250ml vegetable stock (or water) 
  • 3 large kale leaves, stalks stripped, leaves finely sliced 
  • Squeeze of lemon juice 
  • Salt flakes, to season 
  • Freshly-ground black pepper, to season 
  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional but excellent)  

 Caper and tarragon brown butter 

  • 100g (½ cup) butter, cut into cubes 
  • 1 tablespoon capers 
  • 2 tablespoons roughly chopped tarragon  
  • Squeeze of lemon juice  

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 200°C fan-forced. Line a large ovenproof tray with baking paper. 
  2. For the lemony butter beans, heat oil in a large heavy-based pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8—10 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally until translucent. 
  3. Meanwhile, place flounder on the prepared tray, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil and scatter with salt flakes. Roast for 15 minutes or until just cooked through. 
  4. Add the garlic to the heavy-based pan with the onions, and cook for another minute, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to low and add the butter beans, along with the stock. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens slightly. Add kale and cook for 2—3 minutes, or until wilted. If the mixture becomes too thick, you can add some water (or more stock, if you've got it handy). Add a good squeeze of lemon juice, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. 
  5. To make the caper and tarragon brown butter, place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the butter starts to brown and smells nutty. Add the capers and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped tarragon, a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. 
  6. Serve baked flounder over the lemony butter beans and drown the fish in the caper and tarragon brown butter. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired. 
Back to top