Roast Monkfish With Meat Sauce Food

MONKFISH WITH MEAT SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to at least 450 degrees. Place a cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet inside. Put half the butter in a small saucepan, and turn the heat to medium-high. Add carrot and celery, and stir; a minute later, add onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables brown, less than 10 minutes. Be careful not to let them burn. Stir in tomato paste if you like, then broth. Bring to a boil, adjust heat and let mixture simmer about 10 minutes.
• Strain mixture, pressing on vegetables to extract their liquid, and return to medium-high heat. Bring to a boil; let boil until less than half a cup of thick liquid remains.
• Meanwhile, season fish with salt and pepper. Carefully remove hot pan from oven, and add oil; swirl to coat bottom. Add fish, and roast 5 minutes. Remove from oven, and carefully pour liquid accumulated around fish into simmering sauce; turn fish over, and return to oven for 5 minutes while bringing sauce to a boil. Reduce sauce until it is thick and syrupy and measures about 1/2 cup. When a thin-bladed knife inserted into thickest part of fish meets little resistance, remove it from oven.
• Add remaining butter to sauce, and spoon over fish to serve.

PAN ROASTED MONKFISH WITH POTATOES AND LEEKS

Steps:

• Begin by removing the outer mottled gray membranes and any dark red portions from the monkfish fillets. On a slight angle, slice the fish into 1/2-inch thick medallions. Using two pieces of wax paper, place a few medallions between the paper and lightly pound them with the flat side of a meat mallet or small heavy saucepan to slightly flatten them.
• In a 4-5 quart saucepan, add the potatoes and enough cold water to cover them by 3 inches, season with salt and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to a gentle boil and cook 10 minutes.
• Trim the root ends and dark green leaves from the leeks. From the greens of one leek, trim any yellow, wilted or bruised parts and reserve them. The other two leek greens can be set aside for another use, like stock. Slice the leek whites and reserved greens in half lengthwise. Rinse layers well under cold water to remove any grit from between the layers. Using one set of leek whites and greens, cut again in half lengthwise. The remaining leek whites cut crosswise into 1 inch pieces. Add all the leeks to the potatoes after they have cooked at a gentle boil for 10 minutes. Cook leeks and potatoes for an additional 10 minutes or until they are tender.
• Reserve 2 cups of the potato/leek cooking liquid. Drain the remaining liquid from the vegetables. Transfer to a blender the leek greens, long pieces of leek whites and two slices of the potato. Add approximately 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid and blend until smooth. While the blender is still running, add 1/2 cup of the olive oil in a thin steady stream. Blend until creamy and the sauce is thick enough to lightly coat a spoon. If necessary, add more cooking liquid to get the sauce to that stage. Strain the sauce into a small saucepan, keep warm over low heat.
• In a large skillet over a medium-high flame, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the remaining leeks and potatoes that have been drained and the thyme sprigs to the skillet.
• Season with salt and pepper and cook until golden brown, turning often, for approximately 12 minutes. Remove from heat and cover skillet to keep the mixture warm.
• Sprinkle the monkfish slices with salt and lightly coat them with flour, tap off excess. In a large non-stick skillet over medium flame, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil. Add as many monkfish slices as possible to fit in a single layer. Cook fish only turning once until golden brown on both sides, approximately 5-7 minutes. Remove to a plate and keep warm.
• Divide the potatoes and leeks among 6 warm dinner plates. Place the monkfish slices on top of the vegetable mixture and spoon the sauce over the fish. Garnish with a sprinkle of parsley and/or chives. Serve immediately.

ROAST MONKFISH WITH MEAT SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500°F or as close to that as it will get. It's best to remove the thin membrane clinging to the monkfish before cooking. Just pull and tug on it while cutting through it with a paring knife and it will come off; you don't have to be too compulsive about this task, but try to get most of it off.
• Put a cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet or roasting pan in the oven while it is heating. Put half the butter in a small saucepan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the carrot and celery and stir; a minute later, add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables brown-be careful not to let them burn-less than 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste if you're using it, then the broth or stock. Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so the mixture simmers for about 10 minutes.
• Strain the broth, pressing on the vegetables to extract their liquid. Return to medium-high heat and bring to a boil; let boil until reduced by about three-quarters, or until less than 1/2 cup of thick liquid remains. Season the fish with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, once you've strained the broth and begun reducing it, carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and add the olive oil to it; swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the fish and roast for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully pour the liquid that has accumulated around the fish into the simmering sauce; once again, bring it to a boil and reduce until thick, syrupy, and about 1/2 cup. Turn the fish and roast it for another 5 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife inserted into its thickest part meets little resistance.
• Stir the remaining butter into the sauce, then serve the fish with the sauce spooned over it.
• Roast Monkfish with Asian Meat Sauce: To season the stock with Asian aromatic vegetables rather than traditional European ones, substitute 10 slices peeled fresh ginger, a lemongrass stalk, and 5 scallions for the carrot, celery, and onion. Omit the tomato paste.