Search for monkfish, caper butter - 5 results found

monkfish, caper butter; potatoes, chervil; eggplant, mint

Lots of round things showed up last night.

  • twelve ounces of monkfish tail (the very last of it) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, sliced into 1/2 inch sections, dipped, one side only, into a shallow bowl with a mix of 3 tablespoons of a local Union Square Greenmarket-purchased whole wheat flour (from the Blew family of Oak Grove Mills Mills), half a teaspoon of dry Coleman’s mustard, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper, arranged on a plate, floured side up [before beginning to cook the fish the 2 serving plates were placed somewhere where they would stay warm during the time it would and its sauce were being prepared], while heating 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter over a low flame inside a small copper skillet, adding two thinly sliced very small round shallots from Lucky Dog Organic Farm and cooking until both the butter and shallots had browned and acquired a nutty aroma, being careful not allow them to blacken, the pan removed from the heat and one tablespoon of salted and rinsed Sicilian capers stirred in, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper and also set aside while one tablespoon of olive oil was heated until very hot inside a large enameled cast iron pan, and the fish medallions, floured side down now, were added and sautéed until golden (which was only a minute or 2), removed and arranged on the plates, the caper sauce, briefly warmed and with half a tablespoon of lemon juice and half a tablespoon of chopped fresh pericón (Mexican tarragon) from Quarton Farm now added to it, spooned over each medallion, lemon wedges placed at the side of the plates [I found the basic Florence Fabricant recipe a couple years back, and I love it]
  • twelve ounces of two different kinds and colors of potatoes, 2 Adirondack Red and 3 yellow flesh Augusta, both from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with a a little butter, seasoned with salt and pepper, arranged on the plates and scattered with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge
  • the remaining 2 juicy Indian globe eggplants I had brought home from Gopal Farm, few days ago, each cut horizontally into 4 slices, mixed with a little olive oil, one large chopped ‘Chesnok Red’ garlic clove from Alewife Farm, sea salt, and black pepper, pan-grilled on an enameled cast iron ribbed pan above a brisk flame, turning once, maybe twice, arranged on the plates and tossed with some torn peppermint leaves from Lani’s Farm, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, garnished with more herb
  • the wine was a Spanish (Catalonoia/Empordà) white, Espelt 2017 Empordà Garnatxa Blanca, from Chambers Street Wines
  • the music was an album of George Perle serenades, Gil Rose conducting the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, with Wenting Kang, viola and Donald Berman, piano

monkfish with caper butter; miche; leaved broccoli, chili

I’ve worked with this recipe twice before. It’s turned out differently each time, but each time it was terrific.

I think this one may be the closest to the original concept, and I did have fun with it. To begin with, I actually cut the monkfish into medallions this time, and I floured and cooked them on one side only, as instructed, probably for just a minute and a half in the pan, working fast to see that 17 pieces got in and then out within that narrow window, at which time they were just slightly underdone, like scallops, which makes great sense for this fish.

And I managed to restrain myself from the urge to toss in some flowers at the end.

Now it really was a first visit with gai lan, the vegetable we enjoyed with it. This Chinese broccoli is really, really delicious and I’m sure we’ll all be seeing more of each other, even through the winter (the farmer has high tunnels).

  • the dish is called ‘monkfish with caper butter’, and I stayed pretty close to this great Florence Fabrikant recipe, starting off with 2 monkfish tails (17 ounces total) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, which I sliced roughly into 1/2″ medallions, continuing with local Union Square Greenmarket-purchased whole wheat flour from The Blew family of Oak Grove Plantation in Pittstown, N.J. seasoned with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and ground mustard seed; Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’; a portion of a Camelot shallot from Quarton Farm; Sicilian salted capers, thoroughly rinsed; the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market; and chopped tarragon leaves from Stokes Farm
  • slices of a She Wolf Bakery miche, to savor the juices of the fish and the greens

monkfish, caper butter, tarragon; pan-grilled eggplant, basil

I did it again.  I mean a recipe that was totally new to me 2 weeks ago.

The first time it was so terrific I knew I’d be back soon. I did it again on Wednesday.

I thought it turned out very well, but although I had followed all procedures pretty much the same as I had the first time, there was a suggestion within our small dinner party that I could have left the monkfish over the flame a wee bit longer.

Still, …

  • ‘monkfish with caper butter’ prepared following this great recipe, starting off with 4 monkfish tails (16 ounces total) from Blue Moon Seafood Company, sliced through once horizontally to reduce their thickness for quick cooking, and continuing with local North Country Farms Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and ground mustard seed; Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’; shallots from Trader Joe’s Market; Sicilian salted capers, thoroughly rinsed; the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market; and chopped tarragon leaves from Keith’s Farm
  • eight small orange ‘Turkish’, and an equal number of purple (aubergine) ‘Patio Baby’ eggplants, from Norwich Meadows Farm, each cut horizontally into 2 or 3 slices, mixed with a little olive oil, a little finely-chopped garlic clove from Norwich Meadows Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, pan-grilled on a large iron plate over brisk flames on 2 burners, turning once, sprinkled with torn basil leaves from Stokes Farm, arranged on the plates and drizzled with a bit of olive oil
  • the wine was an Oregon (Willamette Valley) white, Scott Kelley Pinot Gris Willamette 2016, from Naked Wines
  • the music was the 2010 Earl Brown album, ‘Synergy’ 

monkfish, caper butter, tarragon; warm onion-tomato salad

Do this at home. You’ll love it.

It was, literally, a ‘wonderful’ treat. Monkfish is the delicacy the French know as Lotte, the Italians as Coda di rospo, the Spanish as Rape, the Germans as Seeteufel (the English call it Anglerfish, which in fact is what it is).

It is a very special fish.

Before I had prepared this particular dish I have to say that I had no idea just how wonderful it could be, even though we’ve enjoyed Monkfish often in the past, and I’ve also had fun preparing it.

Where did this recipe come from? I didn’t want to turn on the oven on Wednesday, so that eliminated one of my favorite routines. Also, I wanted to try something other than my usual alternatives, even though we had always thoroughly enjoyed what had become our standards over the years.

I was about to give up the search, through my files, my cookbooks, and then on line, when I came across a recipe attributed to Florence Fabricant that intrigued me for its simple assembly and for its modest, yet slightly odd list of ingredients.

But I was skeptical about the instruction to coat the fish with flour and sautéed on only one side, and also for “no more than a minute or so”; I had never heard of doing such a thing in preparing fish, or meat.  I double-checked the text elsewhere for accuracy, and the same lines came up.

I decided to take a chance (even though I made a note to myself that I might have to flip the fish over, and/or keep it above the flame a little longer). It came together beautifully. Fortunately I had the sense in time to realize the monkfish I had brought home were all about twice the thickness of those described in the recipe, so I sliced them in half horizontally.

This is going to become my new favorite monkfish preparation. I think that the idea of starting with ground mustard seed is a brilliant touch, and I think I payed a modest homage to it by sprinkling some mustard-colored nasturtium blossoms on top at the very end.

  • monkfish with caper butter prepared following this great recipe, starting off, I believe, with 6 tails (14 ounces total) from Blue Moon Fish Company; local North Country Farms Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and ground mustard seed; unsalted Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter; several minced ramp roots from Berried Treasures Farm (substituting for the shallots); Sicilian salted capers, thoroughly rinsed; organic lemon, juice and wedges, from Whole Foods Market; chopped tarragon leaves from Keith’s Farm; and, my own innovation, a few nasturtium blossoms from Berried Treasures Farm, chopped, on the very top, to finish the dish
  • two large handfuls of tomatoes (2 large red and a number of small multicolored cherry tomatoes) from Alex’s Tomato Farm, allowed to warm and begin to soften inside a tin-lined copper pan in which several halved red spring onions from Alewife Farm had already been sautéed in a little olive oil until they had begun to caramelize, a little minced garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm added near the end, before they had, the tomatoes and alliums seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, and finished with torn basil from Stokes Farm
  • the wine was a California (Central Coast) white, Rick Boyer Coastal White Blend 2016, from Naked Wines
  • the music was Handel’s ‘Flavio’, René Jacobs conducting Ensemble 415

fried blowfish; tomatillo-tomato-shallot-fennel-lovage salsa

I used to be puzzled by the people who get so excited about the arrival of blowfish in the local fish market (in the big piscivore picture, their numbers may not be large, but it always seemed like I was the only one who didn’t get it).

I get it now.

As I wrote last September, they taste at least a bit “like fried perch”, and so evoke one of the best foods I remember from the midwest where I grew up.

And then there was a (cool) salsa.

The side dish was put together mixing some oddments, a few herbs, and several vegetables, each in a quantity not sufficient to use by itself. As such it was something of a mongrel, but like most mixed breeds, it turned out to be a very good mix. And the colors made a great presentation.

  • twelve blowfish tails (a total of 13 ounces) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, dredged in about a quarter to a third of a cup of local North Country Farms Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour seasoned with plenty of sea salt and fresh-ground Tellicherry pepper, pan-fried in olive oil (in depth, about an eighth to a quarter of an inch) inside a very large heavy cast iron pan, turning over once (cooking about 2 minutes on each side, or until they had turned golden), served with wedges of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, and garnished with micro scallion from Two Guys from Woodbridge,  [NOTE: the next time I make this dish I may try adding some ground mustard seed to the flour, since it had been such a great addition to this monkfish preparation]
  • a bright and refreshing salsa composed of yellow tomatillo from from Oak Grove Plantation, sliced several times horizontally, one green heirloom, chopped roughly, and 6 miniature orange plum-shaped tomatoes, halved, both the heirloom and ‘cherry’ fruits from Eckerton Hill Farm, several chopped stems of a young fennel bulb – and some of the chopped fronds – from Alewife Farm, 3 small chopped spring shallots, also from Alewife Farm, chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm, a little olive oil, sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, lemon juice, a big pinch of dried fenugreek that I had obtained Nirmala Gupta’s ‘Bombay Emerald Chutney Company‘ at Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, the mix arranged on the plates and garnished with nasturtium blossoms from Windfall Farms
  • the wine was an American (New Mexico) sparkling, Gruet Brut
  • the music was the last act of Handel’s 1724 opera (the 1731 version),’Tamerlano’, Riccardo Minasi conducting Il Pomo d’Oro, with Xavier Sabata in the title role (we had listened to only the first two acts during a meal last week)