Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow

The Auckland Fish Market is so close by that it would be wasteful not to take advantage of the freshest catch. My angelheart Eric has always been an avid lover of most seafood; I, on the other hand, require a bit of persuasion. I have been making a conscious effort to eat more fish, though, particularly the innocuous types, like terakihi and cod. Of all fish, monkfish is the most superior. It is often thought of as poor man's lobster - it is succulent and meaty. While not as sweet as lobster, it does have a high water content, lending to a perfect sauce at the end of roasting your monkfish tail, as my angelheart Eric and I sometimes make.

On account of its abundant meat and water content, monkfish does not really suffer from overcooking. In the worst case scenario, the texture might become raggedy, but one can live with that if that is the worst that could happen to it. If you want to prepare the monkfish tail into fillets for cooking, salt the fillets prior to pan frying so that the water can be drawn out; otherwise, your fillets may end up soggy.

The monkfish tail is a large piece of meat, lending to its nickname in Scotland as "gigot," as in a leg of lamb. Think of preparing it as you would lamb - it can be roasted, braised, breaded and fried. It also partners well with lamb's friends - herbs, orange, anchovies...

Roast Tail of Monkfish with Orange Sauce
(adapted from Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson's Gigot of Monkfish Romarin with Anchovies from Two Fat Ladies: Gastronomic Adventures)

For the Monkfish:

750 g/1.5 lb monkfish tail, butterflied and deboned
large handful of tarragon
1 orange
8 anchovy fillets
8 cloves garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper

1) Lay the butterflied monkfish in a baking dish.
2) Fill the inside of the monkfish with tarragon and slices from half of the orange, and season with salt and pepper.
3) Close up the monkfish by tying it up in three spots - either end and the middle.
4) Cut 8 slits into the monkfish tail with a sharp knife.
5) Insert one anchovy fillet and one garlic clove per slit.
6) Rub the monkfish with a bit of olive oil and the juice from the other half of the orange, and season with salt and pepper.
7) Place in the refrigerator to marinade - up to 2 hours.
8) Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F.
9) Bring monkfish out of the fridge for 20-30 minutes prior to roasting.
10) Roast monkfish for 35-45 minutes until cooked through.

For the Sauce:

30g/1 oz unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
salt
1/4 cup dry vermouth
liquor from the monkfish
rind and juice from half an orange
tarragon leaves, gently torn
pepper

1) When the monkfish is almost cooked through, melt butter with olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan.
2) Add onion and a pinch of salt.
3) When the onions are transluscent, add vermouth.
4) When the vermouth has evaporated, turn the heat up to medium high. Add the liquor from the monkfish (this will require that you pour the liquid from the baking dish - and then you can throw the monkfish into the oven, to finish cooking or to keep warm) and the orange juice.
5) Strew in the tarragon leaves.
6) Taste for seasoning.
7) Remove onions with slotted spoon and place on the monkfish, then pour sauce over the monkfish and serve.

Like a lot of large fish, monkfish stands up to heavy and punchy flavours as well as highly acidic or lowly nutty ones. Try it with romesco sauce or tomato vinaigrette, as Clarissa Dickson Wright does. It also goes well with thick mayonnaise.

This is wonderfully hearty without being too filling, an easy weeknight dish for two.

Labels: Clarissa Dickson Wright, Herbs, Jennifer Paterson, Monkfish, Orange

Between the ages of 11 and 22, I could not eat fish, or any seafood for that matter. I was suddenly allergic to it during the onset of puberty and couldn't tolerate it in any form, though I happily ate fish as a younger kid, being from the island nation of New Zealand. My angelheart Eric has tried over the years to get me to eat seafood, from sweet and properly cooked shrimp (until coral-coloured) to the mildest of most fish, cod, battered and fried or steamed en papillote with rice wine, vegetable greens of some variety, and citrus. I've come leaps and bounds in the last year or so, handling most mild fish, including their skin (though some species are still too fishy and just about make me gag at the mere inhalation of them miles away - only a slight exaggeration) and loving jumbo shrimp, crab, and lobster.

Now that I love lobster, I am reminded of an episode of Lidia's Family Table on PBS that I saw last year. I took note of this episode because Lidia Matticchio Bastianich called monkfish an ugly fish with a tail that tastes like lobster. Back then, I wasn't thinking of it as something I would like as I had not yet entered the world of lobster, but as something Eric might want to try - he did and loved it. Before following this recipe, I had not yet tried monkfish, and I was keen to compare its taste and texture to lobster. Also, brodetto, which is to say a savory, brothy preparation, is a perfect way to serve fish, for it is usually applied to accent it.

Monkfish Brodetto
(From Lidia Mattichio Bastianich's Lidia's Family Table)

8 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 cups and 3/4 cup water
1 3/4 pounds monkfish, membrane removed if the fishmonger hasn't done it
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
3/4-1 1/2 cups canola oil
2 tablespoons butter, cubed
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 cup white wine
1/8 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/8 cup basil leaves, shredded

1) Put the garlic in 1 1/2 cups water and boil for 15 minutes. Drain, then boil again in another 1 1/2 cups water for 30 minutes.
2) Puree the garlic cloves with a few drops of the liquid in which the cloves boiled. I actually used all of the liquid to make more of a garlic liquid as opposed to a garlic puree, preferring to dilute the flavour a little as I didn't want it to overpower the monkfish on account of it being my first taste of monkfish. If you want to make the puree, you want about 1/6 cup for this quantity of monkfish.
3) Cut the monkfish into 2"/5cm-wide chunks.
4) Sprinkle salt over the chunks of monkfish.
5) Roll the monkfish in flour and shake off the excess.
6) Pour enough oil into a pan to come about halfway up the monkfish chunks. Heat oil until it bubbles rapidly for a couple of minutes.
7) Fry the breaded monkfish pieces in batches and until golden, approximately 6 minutes in all, but keep an eye on them should your chunks be irregular. My angelheart and I wanted them less than golden brown - just golden suited us.
8) Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt.
9) Pour the oil out of the skillet, then place it back on the oven over medium heat.
10) Melt the cubes of butter and return the fried monkfish pieces to the skillet.
11) Turn the pieces on all sides in the butter until there is a sizzle.
12) Scrape in the garlic puree, and once it is sizzling, toss amongst the monkfish pieces. As we had more a light sauce than a puree, we just turned the monkfish pieces in it.
13) Add the lemon juice, followed by 3/4 cups water (or vegetable broth), and the wine.
14) Bring the sauce to boil, turning the monkfish pieces in it.
15) As the sauce thickens, add the toasted pine nuts (we used slivered almonds instead).
16) Once the sauce has your preferred consistency, toss in the basil and serve immediately.

Ms. Mattichio Bastianich suggests serving the monkfish with either grilled country bread, polenta, or boiled rice. As you can see, we served ours with noodles that were tossed in sesame oil and finely chopped garlic. The monkfish stands up to the entire process, staying quite meaty. The lemon, basil, and broth complement the fried monkfish pieces really well and do not overpower its mild sweetness.

It must be noted that one should only buy fresh monkfish, for some frozen monkfish imported into the US appears to have been mislabelled and was actually pufferfish, which contains life-threatening tetrodotoxin! Information on the FDA website can be found here. Also, it is the tail of the monkfish that is supposed to have the "properties" of lobster.

Labels: Fish, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, Monkfish