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.