I had thought about presenting a very different monkfish dish tonight, but it was one that would have required a bit of dexterity. For that same reason, as I was feeling a bit under the weather with a bad cold, I fell back onto an old standby that’s always pleased.

Monkfish is the delicacy the French know as Lotte, the Italians as Coda di rospo, the Spanish as Cola de Rape, and the Germans as Seeteufel. The English call it Anglerfish, which in fact, I would say, is pretty much what it is.

Probably our happiest experience with this great fish was in northern Spain, on a visit over a decade ago.

The species has only recently developed a following on this side of the Atlantic, due, I think, mostly on account of its repellent visage.

 

There was nothing frightening however about the potatoes or the vegetables.

• two monkfish tails (a total of 22 ounces) from Pura Vida Seafood, rinsed, and cut into four pieces, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, roasted at 400º for 12 minutes with three fourths of a cup of a mixture of Gaeta and black oil-cured olives from Buon Italia, pits removed, placed on top of a bed consisting of a full pound of very thinly-sliced unpeeled Nicola potatoes from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm that had been scrubbed, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and roasted beforehand for about 40 minutes in a very generous amount of olive oil (1/4 of a cup) with 13 dry Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia, and a pinch or so of crushed dried orange/gold habanada pepper inside a large enameled cast iron pan (the potatoes having been removed when they had softened and their edges had begun to crisp)
• one washed and trimmed bunch of a sweet baby bok choy from Tamarack Hollow Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket, added gradually to a tablespoon or more of warmed Portuguese olive oil inside a heavy vintage large high-sided tin-lined copper pot, the choy stirred until tender while introducing some of the water which they had shed that was left in the bowl after they had been washed, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, scattered with one washed, dried, cut green garlic from John D. Madura Farm, finished on the plates drizzled with more olive oil
• the wine was a Portuguese (Alentejo) white, Esporão Reserva White 2016
• the music was Jean Philippe Rameau’s 1748 Paris one-act acte de ballet, ‘Pygmalion’, performed by James Richman and the Concert Royal Orchestra & Chorus

 

[the anglerfish image is from Wikipedia]

It must be early apparent by now that we love this recipe, regardless of what fish I’ve decided to include in it. It’s made many appearances on this blog, and last night it was the turn of monkfish, the species designated in the New York Times clipping which originally introduced me to it.

It’s a great formula, and, more wonderful still because of its versatility: Its author, Mark Bittman, who authored the recipe, says, “The recipe can be finished with almost any firm fish fillet.”. I’ve made it with several myself.

 

The night before I had run out of my usual (modest) stock of potatoes, for almost the first time ever, but earlier on Friday I had picked up some more, 3 varieties, one one of which was the excellent creamy, yellow-fleshed Carola used in this meal.

The recipe is on the site I linked to above. Last night I used the ingredients described below.

• two monkfish tails (about one pound) from Pura Vida Seafood, rinsed, halved, seasoned, roasted with three fourths of a cup of black oil-cured olives from Buon Italia, pits removed, on top of a bed of one pound of scrubbed, unpeeled, thinly-sliced and seasoned Carola potatoes from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm which had just been roasted (in a very generous amount of olive oil) with about a dozen dry Italian bay leaves, also from Buon Italia
• a spray of upland cress from Two Guys from Woodbridge, drizzled with a little olive oil
• the wine was a really excellent Spanish (Galician) white, Bodegas La Val Albariño Rias Baixas 2015, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was a single magnificent piece, Sylvano Bussotti, ‘The Rara Requiem’, Gianpiero Taverna
  conducting the Saar Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Saarbrücken Conservatory Chorus

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

It’s one of our favorite dishes. Last night I tweeted that it was the definition of savory. I think the pictures show us why. The one below is of the potatoes just before they went into the oven, preceding the black olives and the monkfish by 20 minutes or so.

• twelve or 14 ounces of scrubbed, dried, and thinly sliced ‘red thumb’ potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, arranged, overlapping, on the bottom of a glazed earthenware oven pan, covered with 3 tablespoons, or slightly more, of a Chelsea Whole Foods house Portuguese olive oil, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a pinch of an Eckerton Hill Farm crushed dried hickory smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper, the same amount of a dried habanada pepper, and 9 whole Italian bay leaves from Buon Italia scattered on top, and then more oil (another 2 tablespoons or so) poured over everything, the pan placed inside a 400º oven for about 20 or 25 minutes, or until the potatoes had begun to brown on the edges, then almost two thirds of a cup of mostly pitted Sicilian black oil-cured olives from Buon Italia and a few kalamata olives from Whole Foods [fewer olives would definitely not make the flavors of the entrée suffer, but this amount is luscious] were scattered about them, and one halved 15-ounce monkfish tail from P.E. & D.D. Seafood was placed on top of everything, the fish sprinkled with salt and pepper, and the pan returned to the oven for another 15 minutes or so more (the ‘tails’ were pretty thick), or until the monkfish was tender but not overcooked (I used an instant thermometer and 140º as the final say), arranged on the plates garnished with a little micro purple mustard from Norwich Meadows Farm

• a generous amount of fava bean greens, stems and leaves, from Keith’s Farm, washed in several changes of cold water, drained, gradually stirred into a large, heavy, antique copper pot in a tablespoon or more of olive oil already heated above a medium flame where a bit of spring garlic had been allowed to soften, and once the greens had wilted, a generous amount of roughly-chopped spearmint from Phillips Farms was tossed in, followed by a bit of sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• the wine was a French (Languedoc-Roussillon) white, Vin Blanc, La Patience 2017, from Astor Wines
• the music was the Peter Eötvös album, ‘Concertos’ 

I didn’t know what I was going to do with the monkfish tails this time until Barry suggested I roast them with the little Magic Molly fingerlings I had bought the week before. It seemed it would be a good time to use these deep purple potatoes, since their darkness doesn’t work visually with many entrées and vegetables.

In the 2 earlier meals in which I had prepared baked purple potatoes in a dish like this I had used cod, which required a little preparation ahead of time. The substitution of monkfish meant adjusting the seasoning, particularly the salt, and there were a few other changes, but I cobbled together a formula that worked.

• fourteen ounces of quite small ‘Magic Molly‘ potatoes from Tamarack Hollow Farm, sliced to a thickness of roughly 1/4″, tossed inside a large bowl with 3 tablespoons, or slightly more, of a good Trader Joe’s Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a pinch of an Eckerton Hill Farm crushed dried hickory smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper, arranged, certainly overlapping, inside a rectangular glazed ceramic oven pan, cooked for roughly 25 minutes in a 400º oven, or until they were tender when pierced, but ideally not quite fully cooked, then 2 monkfish tails, or Lotte, (20 ounces total) purchased from Jan, at the P.E. & D.D.Seafood stand in the Union Square Greenmarket, before we started talking about remodeling kitchens, washed and rinsed, placed inside the pan on top of the potatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with some salt and pepper, partly blanketed with thin slices of 3 Backyard Farms Maine ‘Cocktail tomatoes’, the tomatoes themselves seasoned lightly, the pan returned to the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the fish was just cooked through, fillets and tomato removed with a spatula (2 spatulas ae better), along with as much of the potatoes as can be brought along with each piece, everything arranged on the plates as intact as possible, any remaining potatoes then added, everything garnished with chopped fresh dill from Phillips Farms
• one bunch of red mustard greens from Norwich Meadows Farm, wilted inside a large antique copper pot in a little olive oil in which several large halved cloves of Foragers Market garlic had been allowed to sweat a bit, seasoned with salt and pepper and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a French (Petit Chablis) white, La Chablisienne Pas Si Petit Petit Chablis 2016, from Philippe Wine
• the music was Gavin Bryars’ 2004 piece, ‘New York’, a concerto for tuned percussion quintet and chamber orchestra