MONKFISH: THE PROTEAN PROTEIN


Monkfish roasted with fennel and garlic, like a lamb leg 


 

Probably the most versatile fish

I already featured this fish and its versatility: it can be cooked à l'armoricaine (rich Cognac flambéed tomato sauce) like a lobster, seared like scallops, wrapped in bacon like a pork tenderloin, served in a blanquette (white sauce) stew like a chicken breast, and of course, poached like cod or turbot...
Here, I chose to prepare it like an Easter lamb: stuffed with garlic studs, roasted in olive oil with herbs, fennels, olives, garlic...



Level of difficulty
Cost
Preparation time
Cooking time
n
$$
20 min
20 min


Ingredients - 2 servings

Instructions

§  1 monkfish fillet or monkfish tail of 1.5 lb.
§  A dozen of garlic cloves
§  4 tbsp. Of olive oil
§  1/2 lemon juice
§  Thyme
§  2 bay leaves
§  1/2 fennel, cut in segments (keep the “feather” greens)
§  Purple potatoes, peeled and beheaded to form a regular cylinder
§  1 big carrot about the same diameter of the potatoes and cut in segment of about the same size
§  Salt, pepper or Espelette
1 Salt the fish on each side and let it rest on a grid in the fridge. This will allow to eliminate a bit of water and the firm up the flesh

2 Put to boil a pan of salted water and boil the garlic cloves except two for 3 minutes. Then, boil for 5 minutes the carrots. And finally boil the purple potatoes for another 5 minutes (in this order for color reasons)

3 Take the fish out of the fridge, rinse it, pat it dry and tie it up with a cooking twine. Take the 2 non-boiled garlic cloves, peel them, and cut them in little sticks. Stab the fish at different equidistant places and stud the garlic sticks into it.

4 Pour the olive oil in an oven dish, add the thyme, the bay leaves, the pepper or Espelette, the fennel greens, and rub the fish into it so that it is consistently coated. Place the fennel segments on the bottom, rub them in the olive oil, and place the fish on top. Add the carrots, potatoes, olives and non-peeled garlic cloves around the fish. Deglaze the cooking juice with the lemon juice and spread on the plate.


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