Monkfish and purple potatoes.
The Stockton Indoor Farmer’s Market started up only three weeks ago — right across the street from my apartment! — but thanks to Dawn McBeth, the local baker who runs the market (which also sells baked good from her bakery, Ambrosia), filling it with one amazing vendor after the next, it’s already become my favorite in the county. Bobolink Dairy and Bakeyard is there every Sunday; Purely Pastured Farm, with their lamb, beef, and chickens, recently joined up; Highland Market is there with their astonishing beef; and the Red Rooster Spice Company sets up shop every weekend. Throw in Milk House Farm’s sourced vegetables, eggs, and freshly ground grains — and Metropolitan Seafood’s selections — and I haven’t had to leave my tiny town to go grocery shopping in weeks.
The only tricky thing is, you can’t always follow recipes when you are at the mercy of the market’s offerings. Now I know I was touting the importance of recipe-following lately, and declaring that it’s taken precedence in my cooking, so I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit that this recipe is my own creation, but it’s not my fault! I had thought I was shopping for a recipe of cod in a parmesan-sage broth; then I came upon the most gorgeous, day-boat monkfish I’d ever seen. Things needed to be rethought on the spot.
Monkfish screams rustic, earthy, substantial. I love to use it in place of meaty proteins – beef, pork – because it stands up so well to strong flavors and textures. Even before I’d finished the buying the fish, I was thinking mushrooms, potatoes…red wine. We got some shitake mushrooms from Highland Gourmet (at a price so ridiculously low I won’t even mention it because I don’t want you to feel bad), then found some turnips, before going home to some green beans and purple potatoes (from Nonesuch Farm).
Wanting something rustic, but not willing to totally abandon my plan for a fancy-pants dinner (this was not a one-pot of night), I came up with something rustic but refined: the purple potatoes were cut into medallions the width and height of the monkfish; the shitakes were sauteed and browned alongside the green beans and turnips; and the red wine butter sauce really satisfied my fancy urges, half of its butter being truffle-butter (which did wonderfully woodsy, earthy things to the whole affair).
A few things should be mentioned before you cook this: first, when you saute mushrooms, you should put them in a hot-hot-hot pan with some butter — not overcrowding — then turn down the heat a little and DO NOT TOUCH THEM FOR THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES OF COOKING. Otherwise, they won’t brown properly, and if there’s anything I don’t like, it’s a mushroom that isn’t browned properly. (Which, in hindsight, makes me sound pretty weird.) After you let them go untouched for the first five minutes or so, and they are golden and browning on the first side, you can stir them as much as you want and also add other ingredients to the pan (but, again, not before those crucial five minutes are up!). The turnips should go in next, and you should be careful to make sure they brown as well, not messing with them too much either or they’ll go starchy and mush up. Then you add the green beans and cook, covering for a few minutes, until they’re tender and beginning to brown as well. More butter gets added along the way to help even more with the browning.
One last note: trying to keep this recipe as simple as possible, we did a little test of cooking the first piece of monkfish in a pan with butter and nothing else, and cooking the second piece with rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves. Unfortunately for simplicity, the second was the clear winner, so I included that version in the recipe. The first piece was nothing to sneer at, though, so don’t worry if you’re pressed for time or out of rosemary and garlic. Otherwise, I’d follow all the steps, because they led to something great. Rustic, but refined enough for a dinner party; fancy-pants comfort food: a delicious little collaboration between my home-cook style and the things I’ve picked up from all that recipe-following lately.
Monkfish with Purple Potatoes and Truffled Red Wine Sauce
serves 2 (or maybe 3 light eaters)
For the Truffled Red Wine Sauce
1 slice smoked bacon, chopped
1 shallot, finely diced
1/2 celery stalk, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup dry red wine
4 tablespoons white truffle butter
2-4 tablespoons unsalted butter
For the Mushrooms
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 tablespoon or more white truffle butter
1/2 pound shitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
a few handfuls of good-looking green beans, slim as you can find them, cut into 1 inch pieces
1-2 turnips, peeled and cut into a small dice
For the Potatoes
2-3 oblong purple potatoes, about 1 pound total
a few sprigs of thyme
For the Monkfish
¾ to 1 pound monkfish fillet, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 cloves of garlic
a sprig of thyme
In a medium saucepan, add bacon over medium high heat and render for 5 minutes. Add shallot, celery, and carrot and cook until softened but not browned, 5-10 minutes. Add chicken stock and wine and reduce by a little more than half, about 30 minutes or so.
Meanwhile make the mushrooms: add canola oil and truffle butter to a pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add mushrooms and leave untouched in the pan for at least 5 minutes, until the mushrooms have begun to properly brown. Turn mushrooms and add green beans and turnips and cook until turnips are browned on all sides, adding more butter or oil if the pan gets too dry.
Slice potatoes into thick medallions (you want them to be similar to the size of the monkfish medallions you’ll slice later) and put them into another pan over medium-high heat, so that they are all touching the bottom of the pan in one layer. Add chicken stock or water, enough to come halfway up the sides of the potatoes, and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes, then remove the cover and cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the potatoes are browned, turning potatoes half-way through. Turn off heat and set aside.
To finish the sauce: whisk butter into the reduced wine, a little at a time, until it is a bit thicker and tastes good—not too tart, but not too oily—then season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
To cook monkfish: Add canola oil to a pan over medium-high heat. Just before the oil starts to smoke, place the monkfish in the pan, rounded (presentation) side down. Cook for five minutes, until the fish is golden-brown, adding a tablespoon of butter about halfway through and basting the fish once the butter browns. (The butter should seem burnt, but the whole pan should not be smoking.) Flip the fish, add another tablespoon of butter, and cook for another six minutes, basting the entire time (and adding the garlic and thyme about halfway through, so that it flavors the butter and oil without burning). Remove the fish from pan and set on a cutting board to rest.
To finish: Cut monkfish into medallions. Spoon mushroom and turnip mixture onto a platter and place a medallion of monkfish, then a slice of potato, over the mushrooms, and repeat until you use up all the monkfish. Any leftover mushrooms or potatoes can be placed around the edge of the platter. Spoon some sauce over everything (you’ll have sauce leftover — bring it to the table to pass around) and serve.
Subscribe to C&C
Sweet Corn Soup
Zucchini Basil Soup
Simple Tomato Salad
Bacon-wrapped Yellowtail
Apricots Poached in Vanilla-Thyme Syrup
Summer Squash Carbonara
Steak with Parsleyed Butter
Casa Maya, Highbridge
The Fine Diner, Clinton
Elements, Princeton
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:54 pm
I love monkfish…a forgiving fish to cook, great for a braise as well!
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I absolutely love monkfish but unfortunately have not had it in years. Its rather difficult to find on the West Coast. I think I might have to see if my local Korean market stocks it. Otherwise I’m out of luch.
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Terrific recipe – you got some lovely caramelization on the fish, perfect and mouth-watering. Really nice.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:12 pm
an absolutely gorgeous dish! you’ve made monkfish look heavenly.
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Great post, Robin. I’m tickled to hear you have a market like that across the street from you! How awesome is that? (The answer to that question is, “Really awesome.”)
I have another question. What’s the deal with green beans in winter? I think of them as a summer food, but maybe I’m wrong. I found “local” green beans at one of my supermarkets the other day, but I live in Texas, so I think “local” may also mean “Mexico.” Where did your market’s green beans originate?
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
I normally don’t eat mushrooms- still struggle with the texture- but I will eat them if they’ve been sauteed and beautifully browned. They are amazing that way. I love a splash of worcestershire sauce and a glug of deep red wine. Plus good sea salt.
That dish is just gorgeous Robin. I’ve been so impressed with what you’ve been cooking- and from following you for so long, it’s been wonderful to see the incredible changes, not only in the food, but the photos as well. All stunning.
How’s Champ?
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Hi Rose-Anne,
Really, totally awesome, for sure. ;)
And to answer the green bean question, I didn’t find them at the farmer’s market (I had written that in this post originally but when Jim edited it he switched it up for style purposes without noticing the importance–the nerve!) but at None Such Farm Market, a wonderful market nearby that stocks as much locally produced items as it can, and supplements that with other goods, which brings me to my second point: We don’t eat locally in winter. It would be nearly impossible. Most everything stops growing in winter, and while we can still get cabbages and potatoes and apples, it’s hard to find too much else. There are a bunch of greenhouse growers who make micro greens and lettuces, thank goodness, and mushrooms are available, too, but I don’t restrict myself from buying organic green beans from elsewhere (which, honestly, I find hard to get good ones here even in summer), or rice, or oranges. Of course, I never buy things that don’t taste as good as I can get here when they are in season (no berries, no more apples once they are sold out for the season). And, of course, if I can get something locally, I will. All our meats are local, our eggs are always local. Most of our dairy products are too (and if not local, then at least ethical.) Fish, well, I don’t give a hoot about local as long as it’s good and fresh, and from a good source. I also (almost) always buy everything from good, small, local markets instead of supermarkets, to support my neighbors and to take advantage of the higher quality products they sell. So, in order to stop rambling, it’s too hard to eat locally in New Jersey, but we do focus our meals on local products.
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Thank you so much Kate. I gotta admit, I’m a little bit proud of myself and this blog. : )
I’m not a fan of spongy mushrooms either—I think so many people get turned off by mushrooms because they’ve never had a properly browned one. But when it is, oh I can hardly think of anything better.
Champ’s okay, in pain but feeling better with the pain medication. We take him to a specialist soon. We’re both convalescing this weekend (back’s out again) so at least we’re in good company. Thanks for asking.
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Oh, boo. That’s too bad. Hope you can find it!
January 24th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Agree with the sentiment that this is one gorgeous take on monkfish.
Also agree that the blog has really become polished. Certainly on my top-10 list of food reading online.
We’re headed to the Stockton Market for our first visit today.
When local growing season starts, don’t know how we’re going to balance our love of Slack’s Farm, Doylestown Farmer’s Market, Manoff2 Market with this new choice. I guess we’re just going to have to buy more, eat more and entertain more.
January 25th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Really beautiful dish Robin! If you like monkfish (as I do), be sure to order monkfish liver if you ever see it on a menu. Has the texture of foie gras and so delicious! Thanks for posting.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Shoot, screw simplicity. I think you’re dead on with the more complex preparation. A real winner. Gorgeous stuff. I’m so glad to have found your blog.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:08 am
That is pure genius.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
wow Robin! sounds like you have some great resources nearby.
i love monkfish but i can rarely ever find it. even whole paychex has it like once or twice a year. it sux really.
like what you did here tho.
January 26th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Wow, that is such a great compliment. Thank you!
What did you think of the market? Milk House Farm, which is run by Brenda Slack is there with vegetables and eggs.
Are you signed up for the Bucks County Slow Food emails? Jim and I just started getting them and we’re looking forward to attending an event soon. Maybe it will provide more reasons to entertain and use all of our food resources!
January 26th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Thanks, Donald, and yes, we’re incredibly lucky here. I haven’t been to Whole Paychex in months!
January 26th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Thank you Mark, and, right on–complexity can work too! :D
January 26th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Awesome. I have always wondered what to do with the purple potatoes I see at the market.
Lil question though – is there any way to cook them so they retain the colour? I haven’t found one yet but I would love to know.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:06 am
Excellent post! I look forward to trying this recipe. I’m not sure I have ever had monkfish but the whole dish looks extremely tasty.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Maybe steaming them? These ones kept a semblance of their color, and looked prettier in person, but I know what you mean. I tried steaming, or blanching in salted water, since that does this trick for purple cauliflower.
January 29th, 2010 at 9:55 am
So many people are turned off my monkfish and I’m not sure why. I agree, monkfish is very earthy and rustic. It seems quite prehistoric too. I would venture to guess that the T-rex often snacked on monkfish. Excellent sides to complement, delicious!
January 31st, 2010 at 10:34 pm
I adore Monkfish. It lives on small crustacians like shrimp and lobster.
February 18th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Nice presentation, and excellent use of wintery things! I too miss monkfish here on the West Coast. I used to catch them myself in deep water off Barnegat and off the coast of Long Island in the Canyons. Ugly sons of bitches… They’re a weird fish, too, often parasitized (no monkfish sushi!) and so dense they need long cooking, like the person mentioned about braising. Other oddity? Monkfish need to be rested like meat. One of the few fish that is like that; swordfish and sturgeon is another.
Now I miss monkfish. Wah!
February 18th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Please check out my discussions on Japanese sashimi and closer to home Ed’s Lobster House. I’m heading there this evening for lobster rolls!