Bones_ Recipes, History, and Lore - Jennifer McLagan [88]
4. Serve the fish hot or at room temperature, with the sauce spooned over.
Whiting en Papillote
1 love this way of cooking fish in parchment paper. It’s simple, each person has a complete meal in one package, and, dare I say, it, it’s low fat. In addition, the presentation is impressive, a puffed package that, once opened (be careful, the steam is hot), lets diners enjoy all the aromas of the dish. You can definitely increase this to serve more people, but don’t crowd your oven, as the packages need room to puff up.
2 whiting, about 12 ounces (350 g) each, cleaned
2 pieces 15-inch (38-cm) square of parchment paper
4 teaspoons olive oil
2 small new potatoes, sliced ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick
1 medium zucchini, sliced ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
10 black olives
4 green onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) lengths
1 egg white, optional
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Remove the fish from the refrigerator.
2. Fold each piece of parchment paper in half to form a crease, unfold, and place on the countertop. Spread one half of each package with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Layer the potato slices on the oiled half of each piece of parchment, centering them and overlapping them ever so slightly. Top with the zucchini slices and season with salt and pepper. Put the fish on top, curling the tail of each back against the body so it fits on top of the vegetables. Scatter over the tomatoes, olives, and green onions, and season again with salt and pepper. Drizzle with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil.
3. Sealing the packages well is the key to getting them puff up. To help, you can brush the cut edges of the paper with a little beaten egg white. Fold the paper over the fish and press down so that the edges meet. To seal, begin at the top of each center fold and make a series of overlapping folds or pleats all the way around; it is important to press down firmly on each fold so that it seals. When you reach the end, fold the seam back on itself and twist to seal.
4. Slide the packages onto a large baking tray and bake until they are puffed, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer the packages directly to dinner plates. Open them at the table, cutting across the puffed top, and be careful of the steam.
Whole Roasted Monkfish (Gigot de Mer)
My West Coast friends tell me that there is usually a monkfish still in possession of its head at Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market. The fishmonger attaches a string to it so he can open and close its mouth when anyone, especially children, approach. It never fails to elicit a shriek or two.
Most monkfish is sold without its scary head. Once skinned, the body is shaped like a long isosceles triangle. To the French, this shape recalls a lamb leg, so this monkfish cut is often called a gigot. Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of the Two Fat Ladies of the eponymous cooking show, notes that gigit is a popular term in Scotland for describing both leg cuts of meat and monkfish.
This recipe, based on one by food writer Sophie Grigson, continues that tenuous connection by treating the fish like a leg of lamb, studding it with slivers of garlic and sprigs of rosemary. It is much easier to carve than a leg of lamb, with only a single central bone. If you have extra rosemary sprigs, place them in the bottom of the roasting pan to make a bed for the fish.
1 whole monkfish tail, about 3 pounds (1.35 kg), skin and membrane removed
4 large rosemary branches
2 garlic cloves, cut into fine slivers
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup (125 ml) dry white wine
½ cup (125 ml) olive oil
1 small mild onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1. With a small sharp knife, make a series of shallow slits all over the top of the monkfish. Take a sprig rosemary from the branch and, using a garlic sliver, push it and the garlic into one of the slits. Repeat the process until all the garlic is used up and the top of the fish is covered