How To Cook Monkfish | Recipe

  • 5 months ago
Here's how to cook monkfish by chef Chantelle Nicholson from Tredwell's Restaurant.
Transcript
00:00 Hi I'm Chantale Nicholson, chef patron of Treadwells in London and today I'm going to be showing you how to cook monkfish.
00:06 So we've got a beautiful monkfish tail which we're going to be serving with an anchovy aioli and some fresh asparagus.
00:12 So here we have a monkfish tail that's been skinned and the head's been removed.
00:19 I'm going to just take off a little bit of the membrane that's remaining and then slice it into tranches.
00:25 So you just want to remove this membrane that you can see here, just with a sharp knife, just under the skin and along.
00:35 So to cut through the bone you'll need a serrated knife.
00:43 If you put the bone at the top of the fish it's much easier to cut through as well.
00:48 Next we're going to salt the fish in rock salt for 10 minutes.
00:51 This is going to serve a dual purpose by removing some of the moisture because monkfish can be quite a wet fish,
00:57 but also seasoning it right the way through.
00:59 Pop the monkfish in and pack it again with rock salt on top.
01:06 Make sure you don't get any excess water on the fish.
01:09 [music]
01:14 Pop the monkfish in and pack it again with rock salt on top.
01:17 Make sure you use this timer 10 minutes maximum.
01:20 [music]
01:30 So pop it in the fridge, 10 minutes later we can rinse it off.
01:35 For the aioli we've got three egg yolks here. I'm going to grate one clove of garlic.
01:40 We've also got some Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and a touch of anchovy sauce for a bit of extra zing.
01:47 So pop the mustard in.
01:51 Dash of white wine vinegar.
01:57 Then we're going to whisk it to emulsify and add the oil.
02:03 I generally tend to use a mix of slightly less intense olive oil, more like a pomace oil,
02:08 and just finish it with a little olive oil otherwise it can be a little bit bitter.
02:11 If you're not a fan of making mayonnaise or aioli by hand you can use a stick blender and it works really well and a bit quicker.
02:17 Once the eggs have gone a little bit pale and aerated we're going to add the oil really slowly to start with.
02:22 Once it's starting to thicken you can add the oil a little bit quicker as well because it's already got the first emulsification that has occurred.
02:29 [Music]
02:34 That's all of the pomace oil. We're just going to finish with a touch of olive oil to add a bit more richness.
02:39 And the anchovy sauce.
02:47 Because the anchovy is quite salty I'd suggest you taste it before you add any extra seasoning just to make sure it's not too overly salted.
02:58 There we have our aioli.
03:00 So the fish was salting for ten minutes, we've just rinsed it off and patted it dry.
03:04 Now we're about to start cooking.
03:06 So really hot pan, nice foaming butter before we put the monkfish in.
03:09 [Music]
03:20 So start it off on a high heat and then when it starts to colour just turn it down a little bit.
03:24 If you need to cool it down even further just add a touch more butter which will bring the temperature right down.
03:28 So when you've got a nice golden colour on the bottom of the monkfish, turn it over and cook the other side.
03:37 And we're going to baste the coloured side as well to get even more golden colour on it.
03:42 So that's been in the pan, both sides, for about six to eight minutes.
03:45 We're going to pop it in the oven, really hot oven, about 200 degrees for about three to four minutes until it's cooked all the way through.
03:51 So the monkfish has been in for another three minutes.
03:54 To check and see if it's done, take a metal skewer, pop it down right beside the bone for a couple of seconds.
04:01 Pull it out and if it's hot enough to touch, it's ready to go.
04:05 I like to serve my monkfish on the bone because I feel it gives it a lot more flavour.
04:10 But if you don't want it that way, just take it off.
04:14 I'm just going to pop that on the plate.
04:20 I'm just going to heat up some of the blanched asparagus I prepared earlier in that delicious monkfish butter.
04:26 Pop that on the plate.
04:34 And then a really large dollop of the anchovy aioli.
04:43 And there we have it, the monkfish with asparagus and anchovy aioli.
04:48 And there we have it, the monkfish with asparagus and anchovy aioli.
04:52 monkfish with asparagus and anchovy aioli.
04:54 [music]
05:00 [MUSIC]