This recipe seems complicated. And honestly, it’s not an easy recipe that only takes 5 minutes to whip up! The good news is that although most of the work is chopping and prepping ingredients, the end result is completely worth it. The flounder is marinated with lemon juice, lemon zest, dried herbs, finely chopped shallots, and olive oil. The arugula pesto is made with walnuts, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and garlic. And the finished dish is a perfect mix of fresh ingredients!

It’s also completely perfect for springtime and summertime. It showcases fresh fish, but also fresh lemons, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, and arugula. These produce-centered recipes are PERFECT for the warm weather.

I love fish. I know a lot of people don’t eat it often, or don’t like it, but I’ve never understood why people have any issues with it. It’s so healthy, and easy to find. It is easy to marinade fish as it soaks up the flavors from every ingredient.

My otherwise gluten-eating family’s favorite GF pasta brand is Le Veneziane, and we LOVE their capellini nests. They cook very quickly, still have a good bite to them, and hold the arugula pesto in this recipe super well. They’re made of a blend of corn and rice, which I find gives you the best texture and flavor; it is not mushy like rice based pastas, and it doesn’t taste like corn, like the GF corn-based pastas. If you can’t otherwise find a good capellini, I recommend this one.

My Notes –

Before we get into the recipe, here are my notes:

Don’t overcook the pasta! There is absolutely nothing worse than mushy pasta with pesto. It’ll turn into a solid ball of paste… and no one wants that.
Don’t undercook the fish! It’s gross and slimy and can be dangerous! If you find the outside is browning too quickly, turn down the heat on your stove so that the inside can cook through fully without the outside burning.
Be careful with the oil! When you put the fish in the pan with the melted butter, please be careful! The melted butter mixes quickly with the water content from the fish and splatters. PLEASE stand far away from the oil!
The thickness of the pesto is completely up to you, but a thinner pesto will be easier to mix into the pasta. If your pesto is too thick to mix, but you’re adamant on not adding any more oil, you can toss your pasta with butter or olive oil so it doesn’t stick. Pile the pesto on top of it.

The Flounder:

Start by gathering ingredients:

To make the marinade, mix the all of the ingredients except the olive oil.

Then, whisk in the olive oil until combined.

Marinade the flounder in a large container, and make sure none of it is overlapping and all the pieces are covered in marinade, like this:

The most important part of making the slaw is cutting all the veggies the same size so it’s easy to eat on top of the salad. It’s a slaw, not a salad, and I like to cut the cubes really small.

After making the slaw, then top off the sauteed fish with heaping spoonfuls. If you’ve cooked this fish correctly, and topped it with the slaw as well, it should look like this:

The Pesto Pasta

Pesto is essentially a type of salad dressing, and should be emulsified. The easiest way to do this is in a blender or food processor! It makes pesto a breeze to make! This pesto is different than normal pesto because it’s made with arugula instead of basil, and walnuts instead of pine nuts. That being said, if you’re allergic to walnuts, you can use any another crunchy-type ingredient such as tiger nuts or flax seeds, or you can even mix in 2 tbsp of chia seeds after you’ve added the oil.

If you don’t like or don’t have arugula, you can pretty much use any leafy green (but not lettuce). Some good alternatives are kale, spinach, basil (like a classic pesto) or even beet tops!

First, add every ingredient OTHER THAN the oil to a blender and blend until roughly chopped. Then add the olive oil as described in recipe below.

Then, mix in with the pasta and top with PLENTY of fresh parm.

Here’s the recipe! Happy cooking people! I hope you enjoy this this Lemon and Shallot Marinated Flounder recipe as much as my family and I did!

Lemon Marinated Flounder with Arugula Pesto Capellini

Print Recipe

Servings 4 People

Ingredients

Pasta with Arugula Pesto

3 cups arugula
1/3 cup walnuts
1/3 cup grated parmesan (you can either buy it grated or grate your own)
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Lemon and Shallot Marinated Flounder

2 pounds flounder
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 shallot (finely chopped)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
3 tbsp butter (unsalted)

Fresh Veggie Slaw

1/2 one large avocado
2 mini cucumbers
1/3 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

In a large bowl, place the lemon juice (for the marinade), lemon zest, dried herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil, and chopped shallot and mix until combined fully.
Rub 1/6 of the marinade mixture to the back side of each piece of fish, then flip and apply to the front.
Put the fish in a large container, then cover with plastic wrap and set that in the fridge to sit and absorb the marinade for 30 – 45 minutes.
Now, make the pesto. Add all the ingredients EXCEPT the olive oil to a blender and pulse for less than a minute or until they are roughly chopped.
Scrape down with a spatula and turn on the blender. Through the open hole in the top of the blender, stream the olive oil in slowly until your pesto reaches the desired texture. If you want a thicker pesto, use around 1/4 cup of olive oil, but if you want it way thinner, you can add 1/2 a cup.
Now, place a large skillet (I used nonstick) on medium high heat and melt 1 tbsp of butter. Once the pan is heated, add 1 piece of the fish and cook for 3 minutes on one side. Then very gently shimmy a fish spatula under the fillet and flip it. Cook for another 3-5 minutes and then transfer to a serving plate.
Repeat this process for the rest of the flounder fillets until they are all cooked.
While the fish is cooking, boil a large pot of water. Once it boils, add a heavy pinch of salt and the box of capellini. Cook according to directions on the box until pasta is al dente.
Make the veggie slaw: chop the tomatoes and cube the cucumbers and avocado so they are all the same sizes, then mix in a large bowl with olive oil and salt.
Take large spoonfuls of the veggie slaw and top the cooked flounder.
Now, add the cooked pasta to pot again (but keep it off the heat) and add the arugula pesto. Mix until pasta is coated in pesto, then transfer to a large mixing bowl and top with fresh Parmesan cheese.
Plate and enjoy!