Monkfish in Mushroom Sauce Recipe

Rape con Salsa de Setas

This recipe uses ‘setas’ which are quite like a wild mushroom and readily available in Spain. However, you can use any type of mushroom. Monkfish has to be one of the ugliest fish you will ever see but its flavour more than makes up for this. It has very firm flesh which lends itself to many cooking techniques. In this recipe it is roasted and then covered with the mushroom sauce. If you can’t find monkfish then use cod, halibut or haddock.

Cooking Method

Clean the monkfish removing any skin. Spread 3 tablespoons of olive oil over it and salt lightly. Roast it in a preheated oven at 200C for about 15 or 20 minutes. The amount of time it needs to roast for will depend on whether it is still on the bone or not. I make it with fish on the bone and I like my fish well cooked so I think it needs at least 20 minutes and maybe more. If it isn’t on the bone 15 minutes should be plenty. Once it has roasted remove the bone and cut into cubes and keep in a warm place.

While the fish is roasting you can start preparing the sauce. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a frying pan and add the finely chopped onion and garlic and fry on a medium heat for about 10 minutes until they start to turn golden.

Next add the sliced mushroom and continue to fry the mixture on a medium heat for another 10 minutes. Add the cream and slowly bring it to the boil. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and remove from the heat.

At this stage you have to choose how you want your sauce. You can simply serve it as it is. Alternatively you can blend some or all of the mixture. I choose to blend about half of it. Return this to the pan and add the juice that came out of the fish and bring the sauce back to the boil. You may still want to thin the sauce a little. Do this by adding more cream a little at a time and mixing well.

Put the fish on a plate and cover with the sauce. Serve with rice, boiled potatoes or ‘patatas a lo pobre’.