Conference turris::cooks

    
     One of my favorite ways of doing Lotte <monkfish> is to poach
    it in white wine and then finish the sauce with cream and saffron.
    The basic recipe follows,
    
     Place the fish in a shallow baking dish lined with tin foil with
    enough excess to wrap the fish in. Add about 1-2 cups of dry white
    wine <depending on how much sauce you want> add your favorite herbs
    to taste. I like to use Herbs de Provence. You can also add thinly
    sliced onions, garlic, green peppers, ... Cover the fish with the
    tin foil and seal the edges tight so you keep the steam in. Bake
    for about 20-25 minutes per pound of fish <alittle more if the 
    fish is thick filets>. After baking pierce a hole in the foil and
    drain the juices into a sauce pan. Keep fish in the foil to keep
    it warm. Reduce the juices by half. Then add either 1/2 cup of heavy
    cream <hitest version> or 1/2 cup of mock cream <lotest blend 2-3TBsp
    of low fat cottage cheese and 1/3 Cup of low fat milk until very
    smooth> boil the sauce until it reduces some and thickens slightly.
    Remove from the sauce from the heat and stir one small vial of saffron.
    Serve the sauce over the fish. Rice pilaf and a green salad go great
    with this. I would suggest a nice gewurztraminer from Alsace or
    Calif. 
     
    
    -mike
    
    ps: if you are using the mock cream it will kind of curdle some
        when you first put into the sauce but just boil it down some
    	and it will all break up so don't panic. I've done this both
        ways <hitest&lotest> and it's very good either way.
    

    
      In note # 1358 there are some cajun fish recipies. I also included
    Low calorie versions of this.  This recipie calls for Catfish but
    I've used it on any whitefish.
    
    Also, last summer some friends of ours caught tons of Bluefish.
    They gave us a bunch so I had to be creative...I tried a recipie
    where I baked the bluefish in white wine and smothered in bacon
    and thin-sliced onions. I seasoned with garlic and other herbs to
    taste. oh and pour a little milk over the fish too.
    
    
    
    

    WE EAT FISH 3-4 TIMES A WEEK HENCE, I COOK FISH 3-4 TIMES A 
    WEEK.  I FIND THE BEST WAY TO PREPARE IT (OF ALMOST ANY TYPE)
    IS TO KEEP IT AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE.  BROIL WITH A BIT OF LEMON
    AND BUTTER, OR BAKE WITH VEGETABLES, OR BAKE WITH A BIT OF 
    MILK AND BUTTER.  THE LATTER IS BEST ON FLESHY WHITE FISHES LIKE
    SCHROD OR HALIBUT.
    
    
    BUT, I DO WANT TO INCLUDE AN EXCELLENT RECIPE THAT TAKES SOME DOING.
    IT'S CEVICHE.  TAKE SHRIMP, SCALLOPS, OR SNAPPER CUT UP IN BITE
    SIZE PIECES (OR A COMBINATION OF ALL THREE) AND PLACE THEM IN A
    WIDE MOUTH JAR.  ADD CIRLES OF ONION AND A FEW PIECES OF HOT RED
    JUALPENO (SPELT RONG?) PEPPER AND IF YOU LIKE, A FEW PIECES OF GREEN
    PEPPER.  THEN ADD A LITTLE SALT AND COMPLETELY COVER THE LOT WITH
    FRESH LEMON AND FRESH LIME JUICE. REFRIFGERATE OVERNIGHT AND SERVE
    AS AN APPETIZER WITH CRACKERS OR BREAD.  IT DOESN'T TASTE RAW. 
    IT'S PICKLED AND EXTREMELY REFRESHING.  I KEEP IT ON HAND ALL SUMMER
    LONG.

    I use the following as a topping for any type of fish. Most recently
    I used it on Grouper...
    
    1 cup sour cream
    1/4 cup grated romano or parmesan cheese
    2 Tablespoons lemon juice
    1/4 cup grated onion
    a few turns of pepper (or shakes, if you don't have a mill!)
    
    Mix it all up, pour over the fish and bake.  No cover needed, since
    the sour cream seals it.  Depending on the type of fish, you may
    end up with quite a bit of jiuce left over, which I recycle into
    a stock for fish stew.  The amount of baking time depends on the
    type of fish and how much. For about 2 lbs, I baked at 350 for 25
    mins.
    
    Sarah
    

    Last night, I broiled haddock, then melted mozzarella cheese on
    top of it.  Served the fish on top of linguini with Maranara sauce.
    
    My haddock was 1/4" thick, so cooking time for everything was only
    15+/- minutes.

    
    
    RE.-.1
         I also make what I call "fish packets".  I put the fish on
    tin foil (any kind of fish) and put a *little* butter on the filets
    with onion powder, a little dill and put gobs of veggies on top.
    If I'm feeling lazy, I use a frozen package of mixed vegatables.
    I seal the foil over the fish, and bake it for about 20 to 25 minutes.
    It comes out great and it's very simple.  I also put garlic on
    sometimes, or tarragon, or....
         I usually use orange roughy, but it's expensive in Colorado,
    like all seafood.  Since we fish a lot, the native walleye and perch
    are also great. (Croppie too!)
         Using the juice to make a sauce sounds like a good idea.  I'll
    have to try that!
    
    Willa
         

    I saw Julia Child do this (or something like it ) to monkfish a while
    back and I've since used this recipe for pollock and other types of fish.
    
    1 lb monkfish	
    1 red pepper, sliced
    1 green pepper, sliced
    1/4 cup flour	
    1 clove garlic, minced
    1 or two ripe tomatoes, cubed
    1/2 cup dry white wine
    dash of crushed red pepper (optional)
    1/2 tsp dried tarragon
    salt, pepper
    Olive oil
    
    Cut the fish in serving-sized chunks. Season the flour with the
    salt and pepper and dredge the fish in the flour. Cook the fish
    pieces in the olive oil over medium heat until brown on both sides.
    Remove fish from the pan and discard oil. Heat a little more olive
    oil and add the peppers and garlic and saute until the peppers begin
    to get soft. Add the white wine and cook for a minute or so until
    some of the wine has evaporated. Add the tomatoes, red pepper, and 
    tarragon and cook for about 3 minutes. Return fish to pan. Heat
    through and  serve it up. 
                        
    
    If you use a nonstick skillet, you can get away with very little
    oil.
    
    

    o.k. here it is... (sorry bout the wait...)
    
    monkfish and potato pie
    
    8 slices bacon                        
    2 pounds monkfish cut into 1/2 inch slices
    3-4 medium size potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
    2 medium size onions, peeled and thinly sliced
    salt and pepper
    1 tablespoon each minced fresh thyme and marjoram
    flour
    3/4 heavy cream
    1 basic pie pasty
    
    preheat oven to 400 degrees f.
    arrange a layer of 4 bacon slices in the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate,
    top with a layer each of potato and onion slices, sprinkler with
    salt, pepper and one teaspoon each thyme and marjoram.  dredge the
    fish slices generously in flour and arrange them over the herbs.
     top with a layer each of potatoes and onions, 4 bacon slices, salt
    and pepper and the remaining thyme and marjoram.  pour the cream
    over all and top wth pie crust slashed in several places to allow
    steam to escape.  bake 10 minutes, then lowr heat to 350 degrees
    f. and continue to bake 35 - 45 minutes, or until crust is nicely
    browned.
                                                                       
    
    please let me know how it came out. thanks in advance.
    
    carla jeanne
    

    Carla,
    
    Flounder IS sole.  Filet of sole and flounder are the same fish. 
    Honest.  I worked in a fish market for 4 years.
    
    It's funny how monk fish is becoming popular just now.  We (fish
    market) used to sell it.  That was about 8 years ago!  An old Italian
    guy who used to work there used to cook it with butter and bread
    crumbs.  It was delicious!  Tasted like lobster.
    
    I agree: Shake n Bake on fish really SUCKS!
    
    dave

    	re.13, Saying flounder and sole are the same fish didn't sound
    	right to me so I called my two favorite fish markets (Legal's
    	in Chesnut Hill and Marlboro Seafoods) and found out the following;
    	Grey Sole, Lemon Sole, Flounder and Halibut are all from the Flat
    	Fish family, the Grey Sole is usually the smallest (though it can
    	get larger) and has a delicate flavor compared to Flounder (Winter,
    	Summer or Dabs) which is sweeter, thicker and flakey.  The next
    	which is Lemon Sole (usually 3 lbs. or over) has a stronger flavor
    	and then lastly would be the Halibut.
        
    	I find all this 'fish talk' both interesting and appetizing!  Can
    	anyone reccomend a book that might explain the many varieties of
    	fish and offer recipies?
                                                                    
    Thanks!
    Mary Jo  
    

    
    mary jo, i have just the book for you.  (though i don't know why
    i didn't try this book when i had the questions bout flounder)
    anyhow...
    
    i got this at legal in chestnut mall.  its the great east coast
    seafood book.  contains 400 classic and regional recipes, plus
    catching, boning, filleting, salting, smoking, grilling, poaching,
    broiling, stewing, pickling, garnishing freezing and complete history
    and descriptions of just about any kind of seafood imaginable.
    
    i go claming and found this book invaluable for the hobby.  though the
    recipes are very rich and some of the stuff in the them you can't
    always find, you can use your find tuning to figure out alternatives.
    at least i do.
    
    oh, and the book i think was $15.
    
    hope you find it,
    cja
    

    
    
    	Can someone give me some input on this one ??
    
    	I had bought some cod at one time and when I got home
    	to cook it up I found thin spaghetti like worms in it.
    	It whas actually about one inch long and more like the 
    	thickness of a hair.  Well disgusted w/ that I threw it
    	out!
    
    	The person who have me the fish said that ground fish
    	sometimes get worms.  We slide the fish through a
    	flourescent light and pick them out.. sometimes we mess
    	some.  BUT the fish is still good to eat ?
    
    	Well I don't know about you but... The thought of it makes
    	me kind of pale.  Now this has happened to me again and 
    	I want my money back.  So, are they right?
    
    

They are right.  Cod more than nay other fish I know of tends to have 
worms.  They are harmless (assuming you're going to cook the fish.)

					>>>==>PStJTT

    I heard that MOST salt water fish have this parasite and once
    cooked, theres nothing to worry about.....fresh water fish are
    also supposedly loaded with it...
    
    I know.....its gross to know your eating a cooked parasite...I
    think its linked to all the pollution we continually load into
    the oceans.
    
    Rick

    I read somewhere that you can get around this by buying
    several small fillets instead of one large one - maybe because they
    are younger or don't go as deep??
    
    TW  

re:.20

I don't think the worms have much of anything to do with pollution.  I've found
reference to them in leterature going back to the 1700's.  It's just a fact
of life.  The reason people don't like it is that we like to think of food
as a manufactured item and not as the remains of individual living beings
(as true for the lowliest carrot as it is for horse meat.)

					>>>==>PStJTT

    Here are two monkfish recipes I picked up at the grocery store last
    night, but I wonder if boiling then broiling is redundant??
    
    Boil & Broil - Remove skin from fillet and cut into serving size
    pieces.  Place pieces in boiling water for 3 minutes.  Remove, rinse
    under cold water.  Place on broiler pan and cover with lemon butter.
    Broil for 6-8 minutes or until it flakes easily.
    
    Saute in Tomato-Wine Sauce -  Salt and pepper fish lightly on eacch
    side.  Dredge in flour.  Saute 2 minutes on each side in thin film
    of hot olive oil or peanut oil.  Lower heat and add 2/3 of a cup
    of dry white wine, 1 1/2 cup thinly sliced onion, 1 or 2 cloves
    minced garlic, 1 1/2 cups tomato pulp and 2 tablespoons tomato paste.
    Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon tarragon.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
    Remove fish, boil down sauce until thick, adding and seasonings
    desired.  Serve hot with sauce.

    Terry

    re. worms
    Not to continue a rather unappetizing discussion, but my husband
    is an avid sea-fisherman, and will not bring home any cod he catches
    after August.  He says the waters are too warm and the fish have
    too many worms.  He filets the fish right at the pier before he
    brings them home, and I have never seen any worms in any of the
    fish he brings home.  He will bring home other types of fish late
    in the summer, but never cod. I guess this is a common belief among
    fisherman, and it may be another quaint custom with no basis in
    fact...
    
    Sarah
     

I had this for dinner last week, it's really good! This was the first time I
had monkfish!

Roasted Monkfish with Leeks

1 1/4 lbs leeks
3 Tbs. butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
Dash hot red-pepper sauce
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 lbs monkfish fillet

Wash leeks well and chop them.  Melt butter in a frying pan over medium-low
heat.  Add leeks, cover and cook 30 minutes.  Add cream, raise heat to medium
and cook until thickened, about 3 minutes.  Stir in hot-pepper sauce and 1/2 
tsp salt.  Taste leeks and add salt and pepper if needed.  Heat oven to
450 degrees.  Sprinkle monkfish with salt and pepper and bake until opaque
in the center, about 15 minutes.  Divide leeks among 4 plates. Slice
monkfish and put on top of the leeks.  Sprinkle with peppper, if you wish.