For most people, summer eating is defined by sweet corn and tomatoes, peaches and melons, hot dogs and hamburgers, ice cream and ice pops.

For me, though, nothing, absolutely nothing, says “it’s summer” quite like pan-fried lake fish. I get it a few times a year while I’m in Minnesota visiting my family (walleye!), but lake fish isn’t so easy to come by in San Francisco. What is easy to find are sanddabs – flat, small, ocean fish with flesh that takes remarkably like the fresh, light, flaky white fish pulled from Minnesotan lakes that I grew up eating.

Whatever delicate white-fleshed fish you have on hand, my favorite way to prepare it is to pan-fry it, but you can always dot it with a bit of butter and broil it, too.

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, I’ll be reading at the Eat Real Lit Fest. Saturday, between 4 and 5, off Jack London Square in Oakland. Come by and say hi – it’s always nice to meet a friendly face!

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Each week, the Friday Food Files are deliciously brought to you by Molly Watson. For more on Molly and her delicious recipes, you can visit her in one of many wonderful places:
Writer: mollywatsonwrites
Blogger: the dinner files
Recipe Wizard: localfoods.about.com
Radio Girl: eat that radio
tweeter: twitter.com/mollywatson
teacher: mediabistro.com/courses/cache/instr404.as

[ Photos courtesy of Molly Watson. ]