Monkfish in Lobster Sauce
At Madre in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Greenpoint, chef John Turnbull butterflies and gently pounds flat monkfish fillet and spreads it with roasted cremini mushrooms and kale. He rolls that into a torchon, poaches that and then shocks it in an ice back.
At service it’s portioned, pan-seared, basted in brown butter, and finished with lemon juice.
Because Monkfish is sometimes called “poor man’s lobster,” Turnbull plays on that by making a sauce of lobster shells provided by Madre’s seafood purveyor, Greenpoint Fish and Lobster. He makes a fortified stock with the shells and the Peruvian chile aji panca. Then he adds that to caramelized onion, garlic, white wine and reduced cream. He finishes the sauce with cooking liquid from his Bang Island Mussels, which are farm-raised near Portland, Maine, plus some lime juice. The dish is garnished with roasted carrots and fried kale.
Turnbull said he selected monkfish because, although not a pretty fish, it’s tasty and abundant during the colder months.
Price: $32