Pan-Roasted Monk Fish with Basmati Rice and Coriander Broth

Forgive me Plumpjack, for I have sinned. I have gone against what this blog stands for and for that I must be punished. In tonights dish I used ..... store bought fish stock!

This is easily the greatest sin committed in the kitchen, especially for this dish. Why? Well, besides it being the worlds ugliest fish, Monkfish has a very mild fleshy flavor and takes on the flavor of its accompaniments - in this case broth. I had no control of the flavor of the broth so I had no control over the flavor of the final dish. I used Kitchen Basics Seafood Stock which is some of the better quality stock but it's still not homemade. Can I be forgiven?

In my adventures to Central Market, I typically peruse the meat sections to get an idea of what they carry so I know they'll have what I need for future meals. On my prior visit, I saw several monkfish tails and figured they'd have what I needed. When I purchased the monkfish tail at CM the other day, however, it was the last one they had available. It made me wonder how fresh it really was. This was only a minor setback as I like a choice when choosing the meats I use not only for quality but for portion size as well.

On to the dish...

It called for the monkfish tail to be wrapped in a few peices of bacon. I won't even get into what this looked like to me (pervert alert!).


The broth consisted of a carrot, a celery stalk, half an onion and a dash of ground coriander. These were sauteed before adding 4 cups of the fish stock. I brought it to a boil and let it simmer for 15 minutes. While this was simmering, I cooked the basmati rice by sauteeing the rice briefly in olive oil then adding the water to cook through.


The monkfish tail cooked in a large oven proof skillet for 3 minutes on one side. I then carefully flipped the tail and finished the cooking the oven at 350 degree for 15 minutes.


To serve, I place a few spoonfuls of the basmati rice in a bowl, then topped it with a portion of the monkfish. Over this I poured the broth but not too much because this is not soup!


Rating: 87 points
Difficulty: Easy
Date Cooked: December 12, 2009

The monkfish was delicious but as I mentioned earlier it doesn't have a very distinctive flavor hence the bacon and coriander broth. Erin thought the broth was "too fishy". Imagine that! She would have liked the addition of lemon in some fashion. I liked it so much I polished off the rest of the tail.

Sea Scallops with King Trumpet Mushrooms and Meyer Lemon Relish

Tonight called from something fairly simple and straight forward. I purchased 6 diver scallops on Sunday for this week and I thought these would be perfect. Cooking this dinner took a bit longer than planned. For one, I placed the scallops in the freezer Sunday so I had to wait for those to thaw. I know, I know. I shouldn't have freezed them. Shoot me. I also had to wait for 2 cups of my chicken stock to thaw.

While all of this defrosting took place, I diced the celery, carrots and mushrooms. A few things wrong here already. Recipe called for parsnips which for some reason I didn't write down. The relish really needed them. Secondly, I couldn't find King Triumpet mushrooms so I substituted shitake mushrooms which really wasn't a big deal. The shitake's added a great earthy flavor to the final dish.


I first made the relish which called from sauteeing the carrots and celery. The cooked for about 5 minutes and were placed in a small bowl. To the small bowl, I added juice from 2 lemons - one roasted (See below) and one not. I couldn't find Meyer lemons either. Ugh! Good thing this isn't baseball or I would have struck out already. I also used a bit of the zest from the roasted lemon. The final relish was so mouth puckeringly tart that I added a dash or two of sugar. Erin loves lemons so she was all about the relish.


The diver scallops I purchased from Central Market were nice and meaty. The portion size in the recipe was 4 per person. Luckily, Erin was with me at CM and said "I can't eat 4 of those!" We only bought her two. Not me. Give me 4 of those suckers!


The cooking of the scallops and mushrooms was quick and painless. The scallops cooked for roughly two minutes on each side in a tablespoon of butter. Once the cooked, I removed them from the pan and poured in 1/4 cup white wine and scraped up any brown bits. The mushrooms came next and cooked for 8 minutes or so on reduced heat. The scallops were added back to the pan to warm up.

To plate, I placed equal size portions of the scallops and mushrooms along side basmati rice topped with the lemon relish.


Rating: 92 points
Difficulty: Easy
Date Cooked: December 7, 2009

Erin LOVED this. The lemon relish was easily her favorite part. The mushrooms? Not so much. I will eventually find a dish with mushrooms she will like. The relish was super lemony which contrasted greatly against the rice and scallops. The scallops were plump, meaty and buttery. The rice was excellent as well thanks to the chicken stock. This was a great dish all around in my opinion.

Pork Chops with Sweet Corn Maque Choux

Thanks to the holidays and some great times with the family, it's been awhile since I've cooked anything from the PJ cookbook. I've lined up 3 PJ meals this week before Christmas goes into full swing. Tonight I prepared the Pork Chops with Sweet Corn Maque Choux ("Mock Shoe").

I purchased these wonderfully thick chops at Central Market. These are bone-in with a good amount of fat to really bring in some extra flavor.


Up next was preparing the Maque Choux which is a traditional dish of southern Lousiana consisting of corn, red bell pepper, onion and a dash of cayenne pepper. Think a spruced up cream corn. The photo in the PJ CB shows the corn not as creamy. Actually it's not creamy at all. I followed the recipe as outlined, however, I would have toned down the heavy cream. It called for 1/2 cup which was a bit much, however, the Maque Choux was still delicious.


The pork chops were to be cooked in the drippings left over from the cooked garlic. The recipe called for 8-10 thinly sliced cloves which was a ton of garlic. I only cooked 6 cloves. They were cooked in some olive oil and basically roasted into little garlic chips which were to be a garnish for the final dish. More on the garlic later.


Cooking the pork chops was quite simple. Salt and pepper on each side then cooked covered for about 10-12 minutes on each side. Once the pork chops were properly cooked, the reciped called for a pan wine sauce using 2 cups reduced dry white wine and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter. This sauce was intensly rich as it brought together all the flavors left in the pan from the garlic, pork chops and wine.


The final platting called for the pork chops to be served on top of the maque choux with a few garlic chips and the pan sauce. Another side used in the PJ CB was sauteed kale which we couldn't find.

Rating: 91 points
Difficulty: Easy
Date Cooked: December 6, 2009

Overall this was a great dish. The pork chops were very juicy and the Maque Choux added a nice little kick of flavor. Oh, and that garlic. Holy sh!t. I ate one the garlic chips with a bite of the chops and that's all I tasted the rest of the meal. It was intensly strong. Too much if you ask me. I am actually still tasting the garlic as I write this.