Spiced monkfish with chicory and orange butter sauce

Method

Roast the red and yellow peppers

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/fan200C/gas 7. Place the peppers and 3 tablespoons olive oil in a small roasting tin with the garlic, thyme, rosemary and a pinch of rock salt. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the peppers are blistered and tender. They can be quite blackened – this adds to the smoky flavour. (While the peppers are roasting, you can fry the chicory and prepare the monkfish.)
2. Transfer the peppers to a large bowl and cover tightly with cling film. Set aside for 15 minutes. The steam will loosen the skins. Pull off the skins, remove the core and deseed the peppers. Put 1 red pepper in a liquidiser with the garlic, herbs and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Blitz until as smooth as possible, then press through a fine sieve. Season the red pepper purée, cover, set aside and chill until needed. Cut the remaining peppers into neat wide strips. Place in a small saucepan until needed.

Pan-fry the chicory

1. Meanwhile, cut the chicory into quarters – do not remove the root. Roll the chicory quarters in the icing sugar. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and 50g of the butter in a small, shallow frying pan until foaming.
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2. Add the chicory and cook for 6-8 minutes, basting with the oil and butter, until golden and soft.Add 3 tablespoons water and 3 tablespoons orange juice. Remove the chicory from the pan, reserving all the sauce and chilling it. Chill the chicory separately and quickly so that it doesn’t cook any further.

Prepare the monkfish

1. Pull the skin away from the monkfish tail, slide a knife under it and cut off and discard the skin. Cut the fillets off either side of the tail bone, making sure you keep the knife flat against the bone.
2. Trim off loose pieces of the fillet and all the skin and grey sinew. Check for any pieces of bone left, too, and trim the fillet into a neat shape. Save the trimmings to make a stock. Cut each fillet into 3 portions. It’s important to get the sinew off the fish as it will become taut once cooked, making it difficult to tell if the fish is ready. Using a long thin-bladed knife makes trimming the fish much easier as you need to slice off the sinew as thinly as possible.

Cook the monkfish

1. Place the orange butter sauce in a saucepan and the chicory on a roasting tray. Reduce the oven to 200C/fan180C/gas 6. Mix the salt and curry powder together. Dust the fish in this mixture to season. Place 3 tablespoons olive oil and the remaining butter in a pan and, when sizzling hot, add the monkfish, in batches if necessary. Give the pan a shake so the fish doesn’t stick. Fry on one side for 2-4 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces, turn over and cook for a further 2-4 minutes. The fish should still feel quite springy and soft to the touch. You can now put the fish on a foil-lined baking sheet and set it aside for 30 minutes – perfect if you are serving guests drinks or a starter.

When ready to serve

1. Put the foil-lined tray of cooled monkfish along with the tray of chicory in the hot oven to heat through for 6-8 minutes. (If you are not leaving the fish to cool, then it will need only 2-3 minutes in the oven.) The fish is cooked when it feels just firm, and you can just see a little white juice oozing from it – don’t overcook or it will be tough. Heat the orange butter sauce until boiling, and cook until reduced a little. Reheat the sliced peppers on the hob. Remove the fish and chicory from the oven, then cut each piece of fish into 3-4 slices.
2. Spoon a little of the cold red pepper purée onto one side of each plate. Pile the warm sliced peppers in the centre. Arrange 3-4 slices of monkfish on top and drizzle with the orange butter sauce. Place 1-2 pieces of chicory on each plate to serve.