Experiment with Monkfish

I had a craving for monkfish the other day. I wanted to do something interesting with it though. What I ended up coming up with was something a bit Japanese, a bit Thai/SE Asian, and definitely wonderful.

The Japanese component? The fact that I fried the monkfish with a starch crust (ok, I guess it could be a more Chinese technique, but oh well...), and then the SE Asian part was the flavoring of lemongrass and Green Curry with coconut. Yum...

Lemongrass flavored monkfish with coconut curry creme

2 4-ounce Monkfish fillets -- cut to about 1 1/2 inch thick
1-2 Tbls lemongrass paste
Potato Starch to coat
Sea salt and white pepper to taste.

Sauce:

1 Cup chicken stock
1 Tbls Thai Green Curry paste (powder works fine too)
2 Tbls coconut milk
Fish Sauce (nam pla or nuoc mam) to taste

Optional:
Thai bird chiles as needed
small dice of carrot, potato, and mushroom
Dash of heavy cream

Preheat frying oil to 360 degrees F.

Salt the monkfish on all sides slightly on the heavy side. Let sit on a cutting board for 10 minutes, then pat dry.

Heat chicken stock in a sauce pan and add the diced veg if you're using them to once it's at a boil of you want the curry broth spicier add come chiles that you have made into a paste with a mortar and pestle. Turn down and simmer until the veg is tender -- about 12 minuts. Add the green curry paste and mix together until well incorporated. Turn down to a nare simmer and add the coconut milk. Stir everything together and add the fish sauce to taste -- it should have a slightly tangy, sweet, and spicy taste to it now. Finish with a drizzle of heavy cream to bring the flavors together. You can use a starch slurry to thicken the sauce if you want something a little more thick. Reserve sauce.

Pat the monkfish dry, then lightly pepper the fillets. Rub lemongrass paste all over the fish and dredge to coat in potato starch. Drop the fish into the oil and let fry for about 6 minutes. The fish should come out just about to flake, with a nice crunchy exterior and a moist, lobster-like interior. Plate over white rice that's been sauced, then drizzle more sauce over it. Garnish with cilantro if you like.

Between the creamy firmness of the relatively bland fish and the fiery green curry sauce, you get a nice contrast. This one's easy, so give it a try.

Oh, and if you really want to just to the monkfish fritters Japanese style, omit the lemongrass, and serve the fritters with a yuzu ponzu sauce, or better yet, yuzu kosho -- a fiery paste make out of green chiles, yuzu rind, and salt.

Happy Cooking!