Flounder Fillets Ã la Moutarde: Cookbook Challenge #1

I wanted to start my Cookbook Recipe Challenge off with a quick and easy recipe from one of my oldest cookbooks, The New New York Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne with Pierre Franey. I have no idea where or when I picked up this extraordinary cookbook but I know I haven't cooked nearly enough recipes from it.

With over 1,000 recipes, it's a worthwhile buy; just reading about the chefs who came out to Mr. Claiborne's East Hampton, New York home to cook with him is worth the price of the book alone. And, this is a companion volume to his 1961 best-selling classic, The New York Times Cookbook.

The first chapter, De Gustibus, is a must read for any foodie who wants to learn more about "the revolution in American cooking and food awareness, entertaining and dining customs."

He goes on to talk about some his own personal pet peeves and preferences, something you know I enjoy doing on my website.

This recipe calls for 8 small, skinless, boneless flounder fillets but at my fish market, they only had a large fluke fillet weighing in at about 1-⅓ pounds. I'm not sure where you could even find 8 small flounder fillets totaling 1 pound with the minimum size allowed to be kept at 18 inches. Maybe he means cutting a large fillet into smaller ones.

Note: Be sure to read my post called Fluke or Flounder - What's the Difference? I think you'll find it both informative and interesting.

He also talks about making your own mayonnaise -- that is a great idea and easy to do, but for most of us work-at-home dads, this is not something we often find time for.

I highly suggest you give it a try sometime just so you can taste the difference between homemade and commercial. It's huge!

Here's my recipe for Homemade Mayonnaise. And if you are wondering who makes the best commercial mayo, check out my post on What Mayonnaise Tastes Best?.

Here's my big old fluke fillet. Well I think it's fluke and not flounder. Be sure to take it out of the refrigerator in advance of cooking so you're not sticking a cold piece of fish under the broiler.

Here's my mayo, mustard and parsley mixture to spread all over the fish.

Season the fish with some salt and pepper to taste after placing it onto a roasting pan. Spread the mayo, mustard, parsley coating on top of the fish.

Here's how my flounder looked after it came out from under the broiler. Looks a little overcooked but it was not. You'll want to experiment on exactly how long to cook it and from what distance from the broiler heat source.

Here are my wife's famous roasted scalloped potatoes. What we don't eat for supper, we get to enjoy with breakfast.

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