Roasted Monkfish With Rouille Recipes

GRILLED OR ROASTED MONKFISH WITH BLACK OLIVE SAUCE AND LEMON MASH

Steps:

• In a pestle and mortar or Flavour Shaker, smash up 2 teaspoons of salt with the lemon zest and rosemary and rub this all over the fish fillets. Put the fillets in a dish in the fridge and let them sit there for an hour.
• Now make your black olive sauce by mixing all the ingredients except the vinegar together. You want the sauce to have the consistency of a coarse salsa. Then carefully balance the flavours with the vinegar to taste.
• If you're roasting your monkfish, preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7 just before the fish comes out of the fridge. Pat the fish dry with some kitchen paper and then pat it with a little olive oil.
• Peel and halve your potatoes. Put them into a pot of salted, boiling water and cook until tender. Then drain and mash up with 6 tablespoons of olive oil and a good swig of milk. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice. If you want to get your mash really smooth and creamy you can use a spatula to push the potato through a sieve once or twice. It doesn't make it taste any better but it will make it silky smooth, shiny and lovely. Just depends if you can be bothered, really. If it needs thinning with a little extra milk, feel free.
• To roast the monkfish, heat a large ovenproof frying pan, add a splash of olive oil and fry the fillets in the pan for 2 minutes. Then turn them over and put the pan in your preheated oven for 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets.
• To grill, place the the butterflied fillets on a hot griddle pan and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness. Whichever way you cook it serve the fish and the juices with a good dollop of the mashed potato, the black olive sauce and a little rocket dressed with the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Really, really good.

"POOR MAN'S LOBSTER" - MONKFISH WITH HERB BROWNED BUTTER

Steps:

• Cut fillets: Cut each monkfish into 3 or 4 even size pieces. (Note 1)
• Season: Sprinkle both sides of fish with salt and pepper.
• Rack for resting: Place a rack over a tray (optional, for resting fish, Note 5)

OVEN ROASTED MONKFISH WITH CLAMS AND MERGUEZ SAUSAGE

Steps:

• For the monkfish: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Season the monkfish with salt and pepper to taste. Sear on both sides until lightly golden brown. Place the fish in a small roasting pan and roast in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
• For the potatoes: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss potatoes in olive oil in season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 10 to 15 minutes, until just cooked through and lightly golden brown. .
• For the sausage: Preheat grill or grill pan. Grill the sausage until golden brown and cooked through. Let rest and cut into 1/2-inch slices.
• For the clam broth: Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Increase the heat to high, add wine and cook until reduced. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add clams, cover the pot and cook until the clams open, remove the clams with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Cook the broth until reduced by half. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the butter, add the scallions and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Assemble: Cut the roasted monkfish into 4 pieces. Place a small amount of spinach in each bowl. Place a piece of monkfish on top of spinach and place 3 potatoes, 3 pieces of merguez and 3 clams around the edge. Ladle broth over and garnish with fresh parsley.

ROASTED MONKFISH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the monkfish, shaking the pan as you add the fish to prevent sticking. Sear the fish on one side until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to the oven and roast until opaque and firm to the touch, about 8 minutes.
• Transfer the fish to a warm plate and set aside. Place the skillet over medium heat and add the wine or vermouth and 1/4 cup water, scraping the browned bits from the pan. Add the Chunky Cipolline Tomato Compote to the skillet and cook until heated through.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon the compote among 4 dinner plates, arrange a piece of the monkfish over the compote, and serve.

MONKFISH à LA PROVENçALE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment and place eggplant on top. Season with salt to taste and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place in oven on middle rack and roast for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 375 degrees.
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy lidded skillet or casserole and add onions and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until just about tender, about 5 minutes.
• Add minced garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add zucchini and roasted eggplant, and stir together. Season generously with salt and pepper and add 1/2 bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon rosemary and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. When vegetables are sizzling, cover pan, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the tomato. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• Meanwhile, oil a large baking dish or gratin (large enough to accommodate ratatouille and fish). Season monkfish on both sides with salt and pepper. Make a few slits in the top and insert garlic slices. Place fish in baking dish, rounded side up.
• Sprinkle shallots around fish. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over fish and sprinkle with remaining rosemary and thyme. Break up remaining bay leaf into a few pieces and scatter over fish. Pour wine into baking dish and place in oven for 25 minutes.
• Remove baking dish from oven and carefully transfer fish to the baking sheet you used for the eggplant. Pour off liquid in baking dish and discard.
• Transfer ratatouille to baking dish and place fish on top. Return to oven and bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until fish is completely opaque and can be pulled from the bone. Monkfish won't flake apart like other white-fleshed fish; the texture is similar to cooked lobster. Remove from oven. Remove pieces of bay leaf, then garnish with basil and serve.

ROASTED MONKFISH WITH CHANTERELLES, LEEKS, AND GINGER

Steps:

• Clarify butter:
• In a heavy saucepan melt butter over low heat. Remove pan from heat and let butter stand 3 minutes. Skim froth and strain butter through a sieve lined with a double thickness of rinsed and squeezed cheesecloth into a bowl, leaving milky solids in bottom of pan. Pour clarified butter into a jar or crock and chill, covered. Butter keeps, covered and chilled, indefinitely. When clarified, butter loses about one fourth its original volume.
• Roast monkfish:
• Preheat oven to 475°F.
• In a large bowl of water soak leeks 10 minutes, agitating occasionally to dislodge any sand and letting sand sink to bottom of bowl. Lift leeks out of water with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
• Peel potatoes and trim if necessary to match diameter of leeks. Cut potatoes crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. In a saucepan of boiling water blanch potatoes 5 minutes and drain.
• Cut half of garlic clove into several slivers and finely chop remaining half. Cut half of gingerroot into several slivers and finely chop remaining half. With a paring knife make several shallow slits in monkfish and insert a sliver of garlic and gingerroot into each.
• Heat a flameproof roasting pan, 13 by 9 by 2 inches, in oven 10 minutes. In heated pan toss together leeks, potatoes, mushrooms, chopped garlic and ginger, salt and pepper to taste, and 2 tablespoons clarified butter. Roast vegetables in middle of oven 15 minutes.
• Heat a 12-inch non-stick skillet over moderately high heat. Pat fish dry and season with white pepper and salt. Add remaining tablespoon butter to skillet and brown fish about 2 minutes on each side. With a slotted spatula transfer fish to a plate. To skillet add Port and soy sauce and on top of stove deglaze over moderately high heat, scraping up any brown bits, 30 seconds. Pour liquid over roasted vegetables, tossing to coat, and arrange fish on top. Roast fish and vegetables in middle of oven 15 to 18 minutes, or until fish is just cooked through (fish will be firm rather than flaky).
• Garnish fish with chives. Cut fish crosswise into slices and serve with vegetables.

ROASTED MONKFISH

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Season fish with salt and pepper.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Over high heat, cook one side of the fish until golden brown, about 1 minute. Turn, and brown the second side. Add carrot, onion, garlic, wine and fish broth, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes.
• Transfer the contents of the skillet to an oven-proof baking dish, and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Roast for 5 minutes. Remove the fish to a serving platter and keep warm.
• Meanwhile, in a saucepan, boil the cooking liquid and vegetables over high heat until reduced by half. Stir in the remaining olive oil to bind the sauce.
• Spoon the sauce and vegetables over the fish, and serve with mashed potatoes.

MONKFISH ROASTED WITH HERBS AND OLIVES

Steps:

• Tie the monkfish fillets with butcher's twine at 2-inch intervals. Season with salt and pepper.
• Line the bottom of an earthenware or other low-sided baking dish with thyme and rosemary sprigs. Tuck bay leaves here and there, if using. Lay the fish on top of the herbs and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Scatter the lemon slices and whole olives over fish. Set aside for 30 minutes to marinate. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
• Meanwhile, make the olive paste: Put pitted black olives, garlic and 1/4 cup olive oil in a small food processor and pulse to a rough paste. (Alternatively, chop olives finely with a knife and stir together with garlic and oil.)
• Roast fish, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned on top and firm to the touch. Check with a paring knife to be sure fish is cooked through. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Snip twine with scissors and remove from fish. Cut fish into 4 portions and spoon some of the roasted lemon slices and whole olives over the top. Dab each piece with a teaspoon of olive paste, or pass olive paste separately.