Monkfish and Chorizo Skewers
A recent visit to Dublin city brought me the opportunity to visit my favourite bookshop of all time, Hodges Figgis (part of Waterstones). I absolutely adore this store and frequented it nearly every day when I worked in town. As usual, I headed upstairs to the cookery section and after perusing several books, my hand finally rested on Françoise Bernard’s La Cuisine: Everyday Home French Cooking.
This is a lovely tome of a book that’s packed with 1000 recipes that anyone – and I mean anyone – can make. There are no photos in this book and do you know, I liked it all the more! Just simple recipes with additional hints, tips and alternatives. So many recipes immediately appealed to me so I knew I had to have it! Luckily, Hubbie was with me to carry it for the rest of the shopping trip!
One of the recipes I wanted to try was Monkfish and Chorizo Skewers or Brochettes de lotte au chorizo if you like. I haven’t had monkfish in years as it’s really expensive in Ireland. I remember enjoying monkfish on our first holiday to Portugal where the fish was presented on two skewers hanging from an ironwork skewer stand – very dramatic and instantly appealing {note to self – invest in skewer stands!}. When I found a recipe in Ms. Bernard’s book, I had to try it. Luckily, monkfish was on special offer {although still an outrageous price} so my chance to make the dish had arrived.
The recipe involves skewering the monkfish with chorizo and bay leaves – simple, even I can do that. A sauce not unlike buerre blanc finishes the dish. I have to say, the dish was simply divine. The chorizo bulked out the skewers making the meal more substantial but more importantly than that, the spicy flavour lifts this dish to another level that leaves you wanting more. All we need to do now is get monkfish down to a more reasonable price!
La Cuisine: Everyday French Home Cooking by Françoise Bernard is available from Hodges Figgis {or Waterstones!}, Amazon and all good bookshops.
Enjoy!
Xx Paula
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