Egg-baked Monkfish Results

Nature Boy · May 2000

Well, the speeromints continue! The monkfish was rubbed with the dry seasonings and layed on a bed of spinach in my ceramic roasting dish. I poured over a mixture of 4 oz coconut milk with ginger, garlic, shallots and stuff. Baked at 425-450 for 35 minutes. The ceramic dish was placed on preheated thin firbricks.[p]This was good, but not great. Good flavor, texture needs help. The cooking started slowly, and the fish produced a lot of liquid. Never really browned, even at those high temps. [p]Next time maybe half the coconut milk, and maybe prheat the ceramic dish, and lay the ingredients in a hot dish. Maybe that will get the cooking started more quickly. Any ideas??[p]Thanks
NB

sprinter · May 2000

Nature Boy,[p]Ya know NB, what might be good is to put some wild rice in the bottom of the pan and let it cook while the fish cooks. It will soak up some of the liquid and allow the fish to brown some more, maybe? It will also add a side dish after the whole shmeer is done. Just a thought but rice cooked in that juice with the coconut milk would be interesting.[p]Troy

Nature Boy · May 2000

sprinter,
Good idea on the rice. That would be good.
For the browning part maybe I need to cook at 500! I would like the fish to cook faster and get browner. Preheated pan and 500 might do the trick.[p]For lunch I have some more monkfish left. Gonna grill these direct after rubbing with something!! I'll see what happens there.[p]Thanks
NB

Nature Boy · May 2000

sprinter,
Good idea on the rice. That would be good.
For the browning part maybe I need to cook at 500! I would like the fish to cook faster and get browner. Preheated pan and 500 might do the trick.[p]For lunch I have some more monkfish left. Gonna grill these direct after rubbing with something!! I'll see what happens there.[p]Thanks
NB

sprinter · May 2000

Nature Boy,[p]Is monkfish "meaty" enough to cook direct rather than in a pan or will it flake too much? If it will stand up, you could cook it direct and get the browning that you are looking for. If you're just rubbing it direct may be something to look at. Or, use a fish cooking/veggie cooking pan to get the same results? That amberjack that I cooked the other day I did direct, about 9 minutes a side over 300-325 and it had a nice crispy outside with the inside nice and tender. I love the crispy edges of the fish, seems to have the most flavor.[p]Good Luck,[p]Troy

Nature Boy · May 2000

sprinter,
It is a pretty meaty fish. Looks like it could potentially fall apart, but maybe not if flipped just once...and gently. I am going to use two grates rotated 90 degrees to prevent losing any pieces should it fall apart.[p]Cheers (sorry for all the double posts lately...been some wacky goings-ons on my server).
NB

Mike Oelrich · May 2000

Nature Boy,[p] Was the spinach raw when it went in? If so, I bet that's where most of your excess moisture came from. You can also get some moisture out of the shallots, so you might want to saute them first. Was the fish done and just soggy? If so, you might consider marinating the fish in the sauce, then heating the sauce in the dish until it gets hot and reduces slightly. At that point add the spinach (it should wilt quickly) and the fish (basting the fish with the (now) hot sauce to cover the top). There should be enough sugar in the coconut milk to get browning once it reduces. If the sauce is boiling away too fast, you can always add a bit of water before it gets too far gone. Can't do much to help it if the fish is done and the sauce is still watery . . .

Nature Boy · May 2000

MikeO,
Great tips. Thanks.
I dunked the spinach in boiling water, drained, and squeezed excess moisture before laying in roasting dish. I like your idea of marinating the fish in the sauce. Maybee sauteeing the shallots and ginger will help also, and get more flavor into the sauce before using it for a marinade. [p]One of the problems is that the sauce and juices never really boiled..even after 30 minutes at 450. I think preheating the dish will help a lot. Well, onward!![p]Thanks for the tips.
BTW, I made a rub today with turbinado sugar, salt, corriander seeds, galangal, fenugreek, and pepper. For lunch today, I put the rub on the monkfish I had leftover, and grilled them at 450 direct for about 5 minutes a side. Very nice and seared and moist and tasty.[p]NB

Egg-baked Monkfish Results

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