How To Cook Monkfish | Recipe
Here's how to cook monkfish by chef Chantelle Nicholson from Tredwell's Restaurant.
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00:00Hi, I'm Chantale Nicholson, chef patron of Treadwells in London, and today I'm going to be showing you how to cook monkfish.
00:06So we've got a beautiful monkfish tail which we're going to be serving with an anchovy aioli and some fresh asparagus.
00:16So here we have a monkfish tail that's been skinned and the head's been removed.
00:19I'm going to just take off a little bit of the membrane that's remaining and then slice it into tranches.
00:25So you just want to remove this membrane that you can see here, just with a sharp knife, just under the skin and along.
00:40So to cut through the bone you'll need a serrated knife.
00:43If you put the bone at the top of the fish it's much easier to cut through as well.
00:56Next we're going to salt the fish in rock salt for 10 minutes.
01:00This is going to serve a dual purpose by removing some of the moisture, because monkfish can be quite a wet fish, but also seasoning it right the way through.
01:12Pop the monkfish in and pack it again with rock salt on top. Make sure you set a timer, 10 minutes maximum.
01:26So pop it in the fridge, 10 minutes later we can rinse it off.
01:32For the aioli we've got three egg yolks here. I'm going to grate one clove of garlic.
01:37We've also got some Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and a touch of anchovy sauce for a bit of extra zing.
01:45So pop the mustard in.
01:50Dash of white wine vinegar.
01:56Then we're going to whisk it to emulsify and add the oil.
01:59I generally tend to use a mix of slightly less intense olive oil, more like a pomace oil, and just finish it with a little olive oil, otherwise it can be a little bit bitter.
02:07If 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.
02:12Once the eggs have gone a little bit pale and aerated, we're going to add the oil really slowly to start with.
02:17Once 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.
02:29That's all of the pomace oil. We're just going to finish with a touch of olive oil.
02:33And the anchovy sauce.
02:41Because 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.
02:47There we have our aioli.
02:48So the fish was salting for 10 minutes. We've just rinsed it off with a little bit of water.
02:52Because 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.
02:58There we have our aioli.
02:59So the fish was salting for 10 minutes. We've just rinsed it off and patted it dry.
03:03Now we're about to start cooking.
03:05So a really hot pan, nice foaming butter before we put the monkfish in.
03:09So we'll start it off on a high heat, and when it starts to colour, just turn it down a little bit.
03:12If you need to cool it down even further, just add a touch more butter, which will bring the temperature right down.
03:17So when you've got a nice golden colour on the bottom of the monkfish, turn it over.
03:23And cook the other side. And we're going to baste the coloured side as well.
03:26So we're going to baste the coloured side as well.
03:29So when you've got a nice golden colour on the bottom of the monkfish, turn it over.
03:35And cook the other side. And we're going to baste the coloured side as well, to get even more golden colour on it.
03:41So that's been in the pan, both sides, for about 6-8 minutes.
03:44We're going to pop it in the oven, really hot oven, about 200 degrees, for about 3-4 minutes, until it's cooked all the way through.
03:51So the monkfish has been in for another 3 minutes.
03:54To check and see if it's done, take a metal skewer, pop it down right beside the bone.
04:00For a couple of seconds, pull it out, and if it's hot enough to touch, it's ready to go.
04:06I like to serve my monkfish on the bone, because I feel it gives it a lot more flavour.
04:10But if you don't want it that way, just take it off.
04:16I'm just going to pop that on the plate.
04:19I'm just going to heat up some of the blanched asparagus I prepared earlier, in that delicious monkfish butter.
04:32Pop that on the plate.
04:39And then a really large dollop of the anchovy aioli.
04:48And there we have it, the monkfish with asparagus and anchovy aioli.