Name: Fried Monkfish Liver with Sweet and Sour Alexanders
Yield: Serves 4 as a starter
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons extra virgin rapeseed oil; 1 teaspoon English mustard; 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup; 4 tablespoons cider vinegar; 2 tablespoons caster sugar; 3 shallots, peeled, halved and finely chopped; 100 ml water; a couple of good knobs of butter; 300-400 g monkfish liver; 8 stems of Alexanders, about 300-400 g, trimmed, a handful of leaves reserved

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a starter

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

British Seasonal Food

By Mark Hix

Published 2008

About

Alexanders grow along the roadsides and are prolific as you near the coastline in Kent. Somewhere between celery and cardoon, with a slightly perfumed taste, they can be treated in much the same way. You’ll need to peel the stems first, then simply blanch, boil or braise them.

There is little demand for monkfish liver in the UK, so you’ll probably need to ask your fishmonger to source it for you. For me, it’s the foie gras of the fish world - it looks pretty similar and cooks up in