Monkfish
I love that I can treat monkfish more like a lobster or a steak, rather than a delicate fish. In this preparation, the monkfish is first cooked sous vide and then seared just before serving. The monkfish was sliced into medallions prior to the sous vide bath since prior attempts have proven that it's easier to carve when raw versus cooked. If you don't have an Immersion Circulator, then you can brown the medallions first and then finish them by roasting them in a 400 degree oven. The parsnips worked their way into both of the sides this time. One preparation had them cooked down in cream and then pureed, while the rest of them were oven roasted and then tossed with the chard. The chard presented a good opportunity to use the Confit of Garlic to add some extra flavor to the dish. You can use a bit of the garlic oil to sautee the chard and add some of the confit cloves at the end. I smashed a few and left a few whole since they were so tender.
The Roasted Parsnips and Blanched Chard Stems can be done ahead of time since they are combined with the cooked chard and only need to be reheated. The Confit of Garlic takes a bit of time, so ideally, this should be something that you're pulling out of the fridge. If you're doing it live, give yourself at least an hour for the garlic confit to be ready. This can be done up to a week in advance.
Ingredients
- 1lbs monkfish filet, membrane removed
- Parsnip Puree
- Confit of Garlic (1tbsp of the oil and 5-6 cloves)
- 2tbsp Corn Starch
- Ice Bath
- Kosher Salt
- Onion Powder
- Canola Oil
- Clarified Butter (optional. can be substituted with canola oil)
Chard and Parsnips
- 1 bunch Rainbow Chard
- 2 Large Parsnips
- Kosher Salt
- Onion Powder
- Canola Oil
- 1/2 cup of Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
- 1 tsp Sherry Vinegar (to finish)
Equipment
- Medium to large fry pan for searing the fish
- Medium fry / saute pan for cooking the chard
- Small saucepan for blanching the chard stems
- Immersion Circulator
- Vacuum Sealer
- Circulator tank or large pot
- Half Sheet Pan
- Half Sheet Rack
Prep
Monkfish
- Remove the membrane from the monkfish filet
- Slice the Monkfish into 2" thick medallions
- Season with kosher salt and onion powder
- Vaccum seal the medallions with 1tbsp of chicken or vegetable stock
- Prepare a Sous Vide Bath and set the Circulator to 59.5 degrees Celsius
- Prepare an ice bath to stop the fish from cooking after the sous vide
- If you're doing this in a pan and oven roasting instead, set your oven to 400 degrees and prepare a pan and a half sheet roasting rack.
- Set aside
Chard
- Wash the chard and stems well under cold water. You may need to rub the stems to get them clean.
- Separate the chard leaves from the colored stems
- Trim off the thick bottom stems
- Remove the very ends of the stems
- Slice the stems into 1" slices
- Slice the leaves into thirds or fifths, depending on their size
- Blanching: Fill a small (2qt) saucepan with water and bring to a boil
- Once boiling, season the water liberally with kosher salt
- Add the chard stems to the water little by little so the water is always boiling.
- Blanch for 2 minutes
- Remove from water and shock in an ice bath or run under cold water to stop the cooking.
- Place on paper towels to dry, set aside.
Roasted Parsnips
- Peel the parsnips and cut off the root tops
- Rough chop
- Toss with 1tbsp oil, kosher salt and onion powder
- Roast at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until tender
- Remove from oven and set aside
Parsnip Puree
- Prepare the recipe as described here
- Place desired amount in a small saucepan.
- About 10 minutes before service, you can begin warming the puree over low to medium-low heat. Be careful not to scorch the puree, so give it a stir with a clean spoon every few minutes and remove from heat if the heat become to aggressive.
Cooking Directions
Chard
- Heat 2tbsp of canola oil in a large saute or fry pan over medium heat
- Once shimmering, add the chard leaves and a pinch of salt and onion powder
- Keep the heat between medium and medium low
- Saute the chard until wilted. About 10 minutes.
- Add the chard stems and stir to combine
- This can be set aside at this point. You will later add the roasted parsips and confit garlic cloves when you begin to reheat just before service. If you're serving immediately, then continue below.
- Just before you're ready to serve, put the pan over medium heat until the chard begins to warm.
- At this point, add the chicken or veg stock, the roasted parsnips and confit of garlic.
- Taste the food at this point and adjust your seasonings. You can add a tbsp of the confit garlic oil at this point and stir to combine. Be cautious with this as you don't want to over-garlic the dish. There's no coming back from that point if it happens.
- Let the stock cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until everything is heated through.
Monkfish
Sous Vide Preparation
- Your bath should be at 59.5 Celsius at this point
- Prepare an ice bath
- Take your vacuum sealed monkfish and drop it into the bath.
- You can put a small 1/4 sheet rack on top of it if it keeps floating to the top or stuck in corners
- Sous vide for exactly 15 minutes
- Remove from bath
- Transfer to the ice bath to stop the cooking for 2-3 minutes
- Cut open the bag and remove the medallions and place on paper towels.
- Gently pat them dry
- Spread 2tbsp corn starch on a dry surface. You'll roll them through the starch just before cooking.
- Heat a medium to large fry pan over medium high heat
- Add 2 tbsp Clarified Butter
- Once the butter is shimmering, dip the medallion into the corn starch, shake off excess and put into the pan.
- Repeat for all medallions.
- Cook for 2 minutes on each side or until a light golden brown begins to form.
- Since they are already cooked sous vide, you won't be able to brown them for long, so don't overdo it. We're cooking for color here: a very light golden brown.
- Once cooked, remove from pan and place on c-fold or paper towels.
- You can reheat these just before serving, or plate immediately if your sides are ready.
Pan Searing and Roasting (Optional)
- If you don't have a Circulator or just don't feel like going the sous vide route, you can pan sear it and roast the fish in a 400 degree oven as follows.
- Take the medallions and pat them dry with a paper towel. If they are too wet, they may end up sticking to the pan.
- Heat a medium to large fry pan over medium high heat.
- Add 1/8" of canola oil to the pan
- Season both sides of the medallions with kosher salt and a little onion powder.
- Once the oil is shimmering, add the medallions one by one to the pan.
- Sear until a golden brown crust begins to form. 2-3 minutes.
- Flip and sear for 2 more minutes until golden brown.
- Transfer the pan to the 400 degree oven and roast for 5 minutes or until just firm.
- Transfer to the roasting rack to rest.
Finishing
- Your parsnip puree should be heated through at this point
- You can follow the final steps above to finish the chard by adding the stock and heating through.
- If your monkfish has gotten too cold, you can pop it back into the oven at 350 or 400 to reheat. Make sure you pull it out just as it comes to temperature. We don't want to cook it anymore.
Plating
- Ladle a small amount of the puree onto the bottom of the plate. I went with a round plate for this presentation.
- Carefully spoon the chard mixture into the center of the puree.
- Take a monkfish medallion and lay it on top
- Drizzle with a touch of high quality extra virgin olive oil
- Crack some finely ground black pepper on top
- Serve immediately
