Sautéed Flounder with Garden Vegetable Ratatouille

When "they" tell you to eat from the rainbow, I imagine that rainbow looks a little like this ratatouille!!  We just got  back from a weekend of painting our rental property.  Several days of manual labor, and a family celebration mixed in, made for 96 hours of binge eating, junk food, and no time for the gym.  When we got back home, we decided we needed a little "detox" to resurrect our good habits.  One quick trip to your favorite farmers market and fish monger and you can whip up a colorful, healthy, and delicious summer meal perfectly paired with a glass of crisp white wine and enjoyed with the fireflies on the back porch!  

Ratatouille:

2 tablespoons olive oil (I used herbed)

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 eggplant, quartered and chopped

1 purple onion, halved and thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 zucchini, sliced into thick medallions

2 yellow squash, halved and sliced into thick half-moons

1 red bell pepper, sliced

10 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

salt and black pepper to taste

Flounder:

4 6-ounce flounder fillets

salt

lemon pepper

1/2 cup flour

1 tablespoon cayenne

olive oil, for sautéing

Make the ratatouille.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot.  Add the scallions, eggplant, onion, and garlic and cook, stirring, about 3 minutes, until the onions are soft and translucent.  Add the zucchini, squash, and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.  Add the basil and season to taste.

Make the flounder.  While the veggies are sautéing, rinse the fish and pat dry.  Season with salt and lemon pepper to taste.  Mix the flour, cayenne, more salt and paper in a shallow bowl.  Pour enough olive oil into a second non-stick skillet to just cover the bottom and place over medium-high heat until hot.  Dredge the fish in the flour mixture, coating evenly on all sides.  Sauté the fish, about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown and cooked through.

Serve the fish over a bed of ratatouille.  Goes great with quinoa, wild rice, or even just herbed brown rice!

Serves 4.

Recipe adapted from Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen, by Sara Foster.