Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes From the New York Times - Mark Bittman [42]
2. Roast for 10 minutes. Check and turn the pan from back to front, shaking it a little to bathe the potatoes in oil. Roast for 10 minutes more. If the potatoes aren’t browning, roast for 5 minutes more.
3. Top the potatoes with the olives and the fish; sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes more, or until the fish is tender but not overcooked. Serve immediately.
VARIATIONS
• You can mix sliced onion or other root vegetables in with the potatoes, and the results will be delicious, but the juices of the vegetables will reduce the potatoes’ browning; it’s a trade-off, and there’s nothing to be done about it.
• Substitute about 10 fresh sprigs thyme for the bay or about 2 teaspoons fresh (or 1 dried) rosemary.
• Other possibilities: 1 tablespoon ground cumin or cumin seeds; 1 tablespoon fennel seeds; 3 teaspoons curry powder (sprinkle 1 teaspoon on the fish itself); a few saffron threads; or 1 tablespoon good-quality, medium-hot paprika.
ROAST MONKFISH WITH MEAT SAUCE
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
TIME: 40 MINUTES
I USED TO make an understated but impressive dish of monkfish with a meat sauce that was simple in appearance but tiresome in preparation, because the sauce was a reduction that began with meat bones, continued with roasted vegetables, and required four or five steps over a two-day period. The result was delicious, but so ordinary looking that only the best-trained palates ever picked up on how complex it was.
Now I make the same sauce with pan-roasted vegetables, a simple combination of onion, carrot, and celery, darkly browned in a little bit of butter, and a can of beef stock. It takes a half hour or less, and although it doesn’t have the richness of my original work of art, no one to whom I served both could tell the difference with certainty.
Four 6- to 8-ounce pieces monkfish
1 tablespoon butter
1 small carrot, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
1 can (about 13 ounces) beef broth or 1½ cups meat or chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1. Preheat the oven to 500°F or as close to that as it will get. It’s best to remove the thin membrane clinging to the monkfish before cooking. Just pull and tug on it while cutting through it with a paring knife and it will come off; you don’t have to be too compulsive about this task, but try to get most of it off.
2. Put a cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet or roasting pan in the oven while it is heating. Put half the butter in a small saucepan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the carrot and celery and stir; a minute later, add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables brown—be careful not to let them burn—less than 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste if you’re using it, then the broth or stock. Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so the mixture simmers for about 10 minutes.
3. Strain the broth, pressing on the vegetables to extract their liquid. Return to medium-high heat and bring to a boil; let boil until reduced by about three-quarters, or until less than ½ cup of thick liquid remains. Season the fish with salt and pepper.
4. Meanwhile, once you’ve strained the broth and begun reducing it, carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and add the olive oil to it; swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the fish and roast for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully pour the liquid that has accumulated around the fish into the simmering sauce; once again, bring it to a boil and reduce until thick, syrupy, and about ½ cup. Turn the fish and roast it for another 5 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife inserted into its thickest part meets little resistance.
5. Stir the remaining butter into the