Monkfish roasted with herbs

"Lotte" was always a good choice on a French menu, usually cooked to perfection and smothered in a buttery sauce. Once called the poor man's lobster because it was cheap, but not any more. Monkfish sounds more prosaic and anyone who sees a picture of the whole fish will have trouble eating it. But I like the dense texture and nutty flavor.

This recipe from Mark Bittman, however, was not a  great success. It's full title, oddly, is "Whole monkfish tails roasted with herbs." Oddly because all the recipes are just for tails and he calls for fillets in this recipe just as he does for his other monkfish recipes, so there's nothing particularly whole about them.

This is where the trouble starts. Bittman says 4 to 6 fillets of monkfish tails, about 1-1/2 lbs. He must buy his monkfish on another planet, because a single fillet I got at the Fishery weighed 3/4 lb. It was definitely a fillet as he described it, because there was no bone down the center.

But for the first time ever I'm inclined to let some of the blame fall on the Fishery. These may have been extraordinarily big monkfish. In any case, the texture was more fibrous than I'm used to -- the "denseness" was missing. I suppose it was reasonably fresh but the flavor was not great.

One can always assume that my execution was not perfect, and fish are always tricky, but this is a fairly simple straightforward recipe. Remove any of the gray membrane remaining -- easier said than done and I was surprised that something from the Fishery still had a considerable amount. Dredge the fillets in 1 c. flour, mixed with 1/2 c. chopped fresh herbs (parsley, basil, chervil, tarragon, rosemary, chives, etc.) and salt and pepper. Brown in 3 Tbl. olive oil in a flameproof baking dish (I won't go into what happened with my Emile Henry oven dish, but it behooves you to make sure the dish is flameproof). Add 1 c. any fish or chicken stock (or white wine, or water, or mix) and put into preheated 450-degree oven for 20 to 30 min. Serve with rice or bread, pouring pan sauce over the fillets.

It wasn't horrible, but it lacked the finesse of other monkfish recipes I've tried. Bittman says he came upon it in a restaurant and this is his effort to duplicate it, but I suspect he hasn't kitchen-tested it that thoroughly. Oh well.