Cafe Lula

Every time I go to the supermarket, I walk past the fish counter, see a billion monkfish tails and wish I had a good recipe to use them in. So, when I was flicking through magazines to plan this week’s meals yesterday and came across this recipe I was a little bit excited. I chose the other recipes I would make this week, wrote my shopping list and went to the supermarket. And then I went to three other supermarkets. None of them had monkfish. One didn’t even have a fish counter!

Luckily, by lunchtime today the first supermarket had had some monkfish delivered and the world was right again.

Apart from the chance to cook monkfish, I liked the look of this recipe because it seemed very quick and easy, but sounded a bit impressive (to me, anyway). It wasn’t any effort at all to prepare or cook, and the salsa is definitely being added to my list of favourite recipes.This was a really fresh tasting meal, not to mention nice and healthy. The only change I made was to double the chilli flakes.

Monkfish with crunchy sesame aubergines and salsa

September 2010 issue of delicious magazine

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 aubergine, sliced into 1cm thick rounds

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying

1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 egg, lightly beaten and transferred to a shallow bowl

50g/2 oz panko or dried breadcrumbs

12g/0.5 oz sesame seeds

1 monkfish tail, around 350g/12 oz, bone removed and sliced in two

For the salsa:

150g/5.5 oz cherry tomatoes, quartered

2 roasted peppers in oil, drained and sliced

1 garlic clove

pinch of sugar

pinch of salt

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Put the aubergines in a glass or ceramic dish ( if possible, the dish should be large enough that the aubergines can all sit on the bottom rather than on top of each other) with the olive oil, sesame oil, chilli flakes and soy sauce. Season with some black pepper and toss to coat.

Mix together all the salsa ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs and sesame seeds. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Dip each piece of marinated aubergine into the egg and then in the breadcrumbs mixture, being sure to coat both sides. Fry in batches for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden.

Lightly oil a griddle pan and griddle the monkfish pieces for 10-12 minutes, turning once halfway through. Alternatively, fry the monkfish for 10-12 minutes in a little oil in a frying pan.

Serve the monkfish with the aubergines and salsa.