When I tell y’all this is good—man, I ain’t kidding around.

There’s nothing better this time of year than a hearty, warm, rustic fish stew to warm the soul.

Did you like that?

That, there cheesy—ass description.

Well, it is the only one y’all are going to get. So y’all better enjoy it.

Because this.

This here is simple, real food done in less than hour.

There’s no excuse to not make this one. It is a great one have in your “aww, shit” or “I’ve got company coming and nothing but this here… “ repertoire.

We’ve got plenty of flavor going on here with onion, garlic, fennel, thyme, and tarragon.

Hell, with amount of herbs and alliums in this dish I would even say it might help with that cold/ fever/ flu/ seasonal allergy situation everyone’s got goin’ on.

Served over rice you got dish that is similar to Catfish Courtbouillon. 

Kinda.

Maybe they’re cousins.

Did I mention that y’all got a two for one situation going here?

You can make the recipe with the time saving shortcuts, which cuts down on the time from start to finish by nearly half. Or y’all can do it from scratch.

Rustic Flounder Stew

Yield: 4 servings. Maybe.  If you can put the stuff down.

Prep: 20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Break out your 4-quart pot and bacon fat.

Melt just a few tablespoons over medium high heat.

Chop half a purple onion or if you got it use shallots scapes. Lucky enough to get some unexpectedly this past week. 

Mince 4 to 6 cloves garlic.  Allow garlic and onions to sweat for 4 minutes, covered.

Not even going to recommend the minced-in-a-jar garlic. That’s just flavorless, dead garlic. Shame on you.

Add 1/8 cup of white wine. I am a fan of this one.

Add in chopped fresh thyme, tarragon, parsley–about a handful of all 3 combined. 

Give the mess a quick stir.

Lower to medium low heat.

Now add in 1/8 cup of meyer lemon juice.

Chop dried chiles  and about ¼ tsp of fennel seeds–add to the mix.

Cover and allow to sweat until y’all are done chopping 6 to 8 medium tomatoes. 

Add in the chopped tomatoes and one bay leaf.

Salt to taste.

Allow to simmer for about 5 to 10 mins.

Lightly salt four flounder filets.

The fresher, the better. Here in Louisiana we’re lucky enough to have ‘em damn near year round. 

Loosely fold filets in thirds and slip into the sauce/stew.

Cook until the fish is flaky and opaque about 15 mins.

Serve over rice.

Here’s your shortcuts:

Y’all could use dried herbs but it just ain’t the same.

Bacon fat not for you? Just enough olive oil to coat the pan.

No meyer lemons in season? 1 tbsp of regular lemon juice should do the trick.

Don’t have dried chiles on hand? ¼ tsp of ground cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes also works nicely.

No time to chop tomatoes? That’s cool too. Just use 2 cans of diced tomatoes with juice.

Et Volia.

Dinner in less than hour + it was delicious.