Monk Fish Roasted W/Capers, Bacon & Parsley (ZWT-8)

Found at www.caterersearch.com & entered for ZWT-8 because we were gifted w/some lovely monkfish. It was a "Seasonal Recipe of the Wk" by Mike Robinson & included "A lrg handful of samphire (opt to serve)" as 1 of the ingredients. BUT samphire was not in the ingredient data base, so I did a search. I found myself reading an article & watching a chef-prep video of a dish from the Michelin-starred Danesfield House in the UK that was being prepped for Olympic athletes staying there. 1 of the prep steps was: "In a pan of salted water, blanch the rock samphire (quickly to keep the nutrients)". Wikipedia was more help & said: "Samphire is the name given to a number of distinct edible plants that grow in coastal areas. Rock samphire is a coastal species w/white flowers that grows in the UK." In the pic shown, it resembles asparagus & occ is called sea asparagus, but I left the samphire option out to avoid confusion (Time was estimated). *Enjoy!*

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Serves: 4
• Yields: 4 8 oz Servings

Ingredients

• 100  g butter
• 1  kg  monk  fish (4 250gm tails)
• 2  lemons (zested & juice reserved)
• 2  large shallots (peeled & finely chopped)
• 1  garlic clove (peeled & finely chopped)
• 100  g bacon (very finely chopped)
• 2  tablespoons capers (sml size)
• 75  ml dry white wine
•  flat leaf parsley (1 sml bunch, finely chopped)
•  sea salt (to taste)
•  black pepper (freshly grd, to taste)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F temp - Heat a non-stick, oven-proof pan over med-high heat. For ea portion, add a small pat of butter. When the butter foams, add the monkfish tails & brown on both sides. Season w/salt & pepper as desired (I used lemon pepper).
2. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the fish & transfer to the oven to bake for 10 minutes. Check that the fish is hot throughout by pushing a skewer or knife into the thick part of the fish. If it comes out hot, the fish will be done (should take no more than 15 minutes). Remove from the oven, take the fish out of the pan & allow to rest.
3. While the fish is resting, add a little more butter to the pan w/the shallots, garlic & bacon. Cook over a high-heat for a few min (til the bacon is cooked). Add the capers, a final squeeze of lemon juice, some grated lemon zest & the white wine.
4. Add the monkfish back to the pan & baste w/the bacon/caper sauce for 2-3 minutes. Scatter parsley over the monkfish & shake the pan once or twice more. Place the monkfish tails on a bed of rice, cous cous or asparagus. Spoon the bacon/caper sauce over the top of the monkfish & serve immediately.