Artichoke Pesto Flounder With Asiago Crust

Submitted by tara portee

"This was created for RSC #11. I combined two favorite ways that I like to prepare fish. One with a cheese crust and one coated with pesto. The combination seems like a natural. The egg wash might seem like an unnecessary step, but after experimentation, I found that the cheese had more even coverage when you use it. You could use another flaky white fish if you prefer. If you have any pesto left over, you could put a dollop on top of the fish."

 

• Ready In: 31mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 lbs flounder fillets
• 1 cup finely shredded asiago cheese
• 1 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• For the pesto

• 8 1⁄2 ounces water-packed artichoke hearts, drained
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 cup olive oil

directions

1. To make the pesto, put the artichokes, tomatoes, pine nuts, garlic, basil, and salt in a food processor. Puree the ingredients while slowly adding the olive oil. Reserve the pesto in a container, refrigerate if not using right away.
2. Combine both cheeses with the tablespoon of flour and shake up well in a zip top bag.
3. Put half of the cheese mixture in a pie plate. Add the other half when you have used up the first half (I found that this keeps the cheese from getting gummed up).
4. Lightly beat the egg whites and pour into a pie plate.
5. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a 12-inch non stick skillet over medium high heat until shimmering.
6. Pat the flounder fillets dry. Slather both sides of the fish with the pesto.</>.
7. Brush egg whites over pesto slathered fish.
8. Dip both sides of the fish in the cheese mixture.
9. Place three fillets in skillet and cook for about four minutes.
10. Use a thin nonstick spatula the gently separate any cheesy edges that have melted together.
11. Carefully turn the fillets to the other side and cook for approx another 4 minutes (if your skillet is running very hot you might only need to cook for three minutes.) The cheese should be golden brown.
12. For the second batch, wipe the pan out, add another two tablespoons of oil and cook as before.

Reviews

[Maito]

This was quite good! We liked the pesto combo with the cheese (though I did halve the cheese). You definitely want to follow step 3 -- saving half of the cheese/flour mixture for the second dipping. Also, do retain some of the pesto for serving, it really increases the flavor. This should not be a problem, as there was plenty. I could not find flounder, so I used tilapia, and the cooking time was the same. Great job on your contest entry!

 

[Midwest Maven]

I'm sorry I can only leave two stars for this recipe. I followed the instructions exactly, but the cheese fell off while cooking and it was very greasy overall from the cheese and the oil in the pesto. The end result was crispy cheese which we liked(on the couple pieces that the coating stayed on) but very mushy fish. It just wasn't a good texture or appearance, the flavor was very good though, and I think this recipe has some definite possiblities, thanks

 

[Susiecat too]

4 stars This was a very tasty recipe! I appreciate that there was an RSC recipe (only one!) submitted for fish, since I am trying to cut down on meat. Anyway, to get back on track, this is delicious! The only thing I did differently was to bake the fish in a glass pyrex baking dish, with about a tablespoon of olive oil on the bottom of the dish. I put it at 400 F for about half an hour, as my fillets were rather thick. As suggested in the intro, another flaky white fish (in this case, cod) worked just fine. The pesto is delicious, and I had enough left over that I will use it to toss with pasta tomorrow. Good recipe! Good luck with the contest!