Woodfired Monkfish with Pancetta and Basil
Woodfired Monkfish with Pancetta and Basil is this week’s woodfired weekly – a delicious supper for 2, just in time for Valentine’s Day, if you’re quick! Firm, succulent monkfish wrapped in crispy pancetta with some basil for added flavours. Let us know how you get on!
It’s another of our favourite recipes from our Woodfired Fish & Seafood.
Woodfired Monkfish with Pancetta and Basil – Ingredients
8 pieces of pancetta or Parma ham, very thinly sliced
Good handful of fresh basil leaves
2 monkfish loins, each about 300g/10oz in weight
4tbsp olive oil
2 red peppers
100ml dry white wine
Salt and pepper
Woodfired Monkfish with Pancetta and Basil – Oven Set Up
Heating up your oven – you want around a 2 Mississippi Oven
Woodfired Monkfish with Pancetta and Basil – Method
- Lay 4 pieces of the pancetta or Parma ham out on a board or work surface so they are closely overlapping and do the same with the other pieces so you’ve got 2 lots of 4 pieces of overlapping ham.
- Put half the basil leaves on one set of ham slices and the rest on the other set.
- Lay the monkfish loins at the end of each set of ham slices and roll the monkfish up in the ham tightly, finishing with the seam at the bottom.
- Put the rolls in a small ovenproof frying pan. Drizzle over 1tbsp of the oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Cut the peppers in half from the top to the bottom and take out the seeds. Cut the halves into thin slices, toss in the rest of the oil with a good pinch of seasoning and put them in an ovenproof pan.
- Put the pans in the oven and roast the fish close to the flames (keeping the embers in place with the heat deflector) and the peppers further away from the heat source so they cook more slowly and soften without colouring.
- The monkfish is ready when it’s become firm and a bright white in colour and the pancetta has become crispy. If you need a bit more heat to finish off the pancetta, add a few small sticks of kindling to the embers.
- Rest the monkfish for a few minutes and add the wine to the pan the monkfish has cooked in. Put the pan back in the oven to reduce by half.
- Serve the monkfish rolls (sliced if you like) on a bed of the softened peppers.
A lovely supper for 2!
Woodfired Monkfish with Pancetta and Basil – Alternatives
- Serve the monkfish sliced into pieces and serve as a tapa at a party
- Use different flavourings instead of basil – we have used roast red pepper slices, black tapenade and wild garlic all very successfully
- Use different fish – cod loin, red mullet fillets, sea bass fillets all work well
- Replace the bed of peppers with a bed of wilted spinach or purple sprouting broccoli