Aishling Moore: Hate finding bones in your fish? Try my tandoori monkfish and blood orange salad

Don’t be alarmed by the marinade colouring and charring in the pan — that is the desired result. Picture: Chani Anderson

Blood oranges are one of my favourite citrus fruits to work with. They are delicious in both the sweet and the savoury side of the kitchen and work especially well with seafood. This time of the year in my kitchen, both at home and in the restaurant, they’ll season much of my dishes with some much-needed sunshine.

At the restaurant, the zests will be used to marinade olives or flavour compound butters, blended with fresh red chillies and cured with sea salt to make a blood orange kosho — a fiery and fruity condiment.

The beautiful juice will be sweetened and churned to a sorbet, spiked with a dash of vinegar for a granita to garnish some shucked oysters or set to a jelly to be served with brown bread ice cream for dessert. It is fantastic too, segmented in salads — like in this weekend’s shaved fennel and blood orange salad — which accompanies a tandoori monkfish tail roasted whole, on the bone. I love cooking fish on the bone, especially monkfish as there is only one bone to contend with, so it’s perfect for those who are wary about finding bones in their fish.

The contact of the flesh with the bone while cooking results in better flavour and a fish that is more moist. If you’d prefer to steer clear of the bone, this recipe is great too with skinned monkfish tails and works with lots of species, like cod, pollock, and ling. This tandoori marinade is also fabulous with mackerel cooked over hot coals on the barbecue.

Don’t be alarmed by the marinade colouring and charring in the pan — that is the desired result. If you wish, you can skip searing the marinated fish in the pan and just place on a lightly greased baking tray in the oven.

Tandoori Monkfish with Fennel and Blood Orange Salad

recipe by:Aishling Moore

Monkfish is perfect for those who are wary about finding bones in their fish.

Servings

4

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the monkfish

• 4 x 200g monkfish tails on the bone (skin removed) or 4x 120g skinned monkfish portions

• 150g natural yogurt

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil (plus extra for cooking)

• Juice of 1 lime

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 small thumb of ginger, minced

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• ½ tsp ground coriander

• ½ tsp turmeric

• 1 tsp garam masala

• ¼t sp cayenne

• Sea salt

• For the fennel and blood orange salad

• 1 bulb of fennel

• 2 blood oranges

• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil

• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped

• Sea salt

Method

1. To make the salad, slice the bulb of fennel in half and remove the core. Slice the fennel as thinly as possible, place in a medium-sized bowl.

2. To segment the blood oranges, slice off the top and the bottom of the blood orange to create two flat surfaces.

3. Using a sharp knife, remove the skin and pith of the orange, working from the top slice downwards, following the shape of the orange.

4. Once all the skin and outer white pith is removed, slice from the outside into the centre of the orange following the membrane to release the segments.

5. Add the segments, one tablespoon of the blood orange juice, parsley, sea salt, and rapeseed oil and dress just before serving.

6. For the tandoori monkfish, make the marinade by blending the vegetable oil, lime juice, garlic, ginger, and spices using a handheld blender or a food processor.

7. Place in a small bowl and add the yogurt and mix well.

8. Place the monkfish in the marinade 30 minutes before you intend to cook it.

9. Preheat the oven to 220˚C/gas mark 7.

10. Remove the monkfish from the marinade and shake off the excess marinade.

11. Heat a large non-stick frying pan on medium-high heat for three minutes.

12. Add two tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan and warm before adding the marinated monkfish tails.

13. Sear on both sides before transferring to a baking tray and roasting in the preheated oven to finish cooking — 6 to 8 minutes for monkfish on the bone, two to three minutes for monkfish tails.

14. Serve with the just-dressed fennel and blood orange salad and a wedge of lemon, lime, or blood orange.

Fish tales

Use a mandolin to prepare the fennel for wafer-thin slices.

Use a serrated knife for segmenting the oranges.

When segmenting the blood oranges, place a bowl underneath to catch all the juice.

The tandoori marinade can be made up in advance. Place the monkfish in the marinade for a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of 1 hour.

When adding the monkfish tails to the preheated frying pan, do so laying away from you as the yogurt will splatter when added to the hot oil.

Use a high smoke point vegetable oil when searing the monkfish.

Avoid overcrowding the pan when searing the monkfish tails and work in batches if necessary.