For the first time in quite a while, the MEGABYTE had a banner day with the fluke. Having all this great tasting fresh fluke in the fridge inspired me to try something different. My ideas came form listening to Bob & Tom talk about their recipes for sole & fluke. Here it is.
Besides the fluke, the primary ingredient is creamed spinach. I sent a friend to fetch some and she came home with Boston Markets Spinach (available in your frozen foods section), but I'm sure any creamed spinach would work. Basically you want something for the Florentine. About 2 cups will do just fine.
The other ingredients you will need are:
4-8 Fluke Fillets
1/4 cup quality Italian grated cheese
1/4 cup of melted butter
1/4 cup shredded cheese such as Fontina cheese
Italian style seasoned breadcrumbs
Garlic Powder
Old Bay Seasoning
Black Pepper
Onion Powder
Chopped parsley
A box of toothpicks

Clean your fluke fillets and set aside. Next prepare your spinach for Florentine stuffing. My spinach came with the following directions: "Heat in microwave for 3 1/2 minutes on high, remove & stir and replace in microwave for 2 more minutes." I followed these directions except I stirred in about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of grated cheese before the second cooking. After this was done, I stirred in breadcrumbs about one tablespoon at a time to obtain a consistency that was suitable for stuffing. Something like thanksgiving stuffing-just so it wont ooze out of the fish rolls. In all I guess I put in about 1/4 cup. Once the spinach consistency was right, I seasoned it with some black pepper, onion powder and a generous amount of garlic powder (to taste). Next, prepare some breadcrumbs for coating or breading the fish. To about one cup of breadcrumbs add some grated cheese, old bay and garlic powder to taste then mixed it all up.
Preheat your oven to 420 & prepare a baking pan with a coating of breadcrumbs to prevent sticking (I find a thin layer of breadcrumbs works better than an oil coating).
Now, on to assembly.
Take a fish fillet, add in a generous tablespoon or two of the spinach mixture at one end and roll up the fish around the stuffing. Stick a toothpick through the fish to hold it together and coat with the seasoned breadcrumbs. (Try placing the fish on top of the breadcrumbs and using a spoon sprinkle more on top coat the fish). Once all the fish is stuffed, rolled, breaded and placed on the pan, add the remaining spinach to the top of the fish rolls and sprinkle with the shredded cheese (you can sprinkle on your left over seasoned breadcrumbs now if you wish as well). Finally, drizzle each fish roll with about a spoonful or two of melted butter (this will add a nice flavor as well as help the breadcrumbs turn brown).
Pop this in the oven for 15 minutes or until the fish is done. Serve hot.
You'll find the spinach will keep the fish moist providing you with some latitude as far as cooking. A word of warning... make sure the fillets are boneless! Because these are so good you will want to eat this with reckless abandon! I guarantee this is a meal fit for a king!
Good Fishing - Good Eating - Captain John
(cr) July 2005