Ever since my fish guy started offering only farm raised Tilapia, I’ve started using wild caught monkfish as a substitute fish. Yeah, monkfish has deeper flavor and thicker texture but I think if often works well as a stand-in.

In a pinch, I often make this dish for a quick weeknight dinner. Sans the rice, this dish can come together in less than 15 mins.

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Monkfish
1 pound Monkfish fillet with membrane removed
1 lemon for garnish and drizzling
Rice
1 cup of long grain brown rice
2 cloves of chopped garlic
2 scallion, chopped
1 egg
Sauteed Spinach
1 10 oz. bag of baby spinach
3 cloves of garlic
pinch of red pepper

Extra virgin olive oil for sauteing and drizzling

Preparation

1. Follow the cooking directions on the package. I like to sometimes use chicken stock instead of water to get a richer flavor.
2. While the rice is cooking, chop up the garlic and scallion.
3. After the rice is cooking, empty into a large bowl and let cool.
4. Season well the monkish with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on the fish and set aside. You want to take the fish out about 30 mins. before cooking to get it to room temperature.
5. Heat a large saute pan over high heat and pour in 2 TBs of olive oil to coat the bottom.
6. Chop the garlic
7. After the pan is hot but not smoking, add the spinach. 10 oz. of spinach may appear to be a lot but it’ll wilt down. As the the spinach begins to wilt, stir and mix the leaves up. If the pan starts to dry and there’s not enough moisture for the spinach, you might add a little white wine or water to the pan.
8. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes into the spinach. Empty the spinach into a bowl, cover to keep warm.
9. Back to the rice, wipe the saute pan used for the spinach clean. Heat over medium/high heat and add 1 TBs of olive oil.
10. Season the rice with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and add the chopped scallions and one egg. Mix well.
11. Add the rice mixture into the hot saute pan and stir-fry for about 6 mins.
12. Meanwhile, heat a non-stick sauce pan on medium high heat, add 1 TBs of olive oil to coat the bottom.
13.Place the monkish into the pan and saute one side for about 4-5 mins. til nicely browned. Turn and saute for another 4 mins. So here’s the thing with monkfish and other thicker fish fillets. You often finish them in the oven so they don’t dry out. Well, with this monkfish, after the initial sauteeing of the 2 sides, I like to cut the fillet in half, lengthwise and throw the cut side back into the pan for about 1 minute. It beats heating the oven up.
14. Finish the fish off with a drizzle of lemon before removing from the pan.

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