Home-Smoked Monkfish with Mustard Sauce

Name: Home-Smoked Monkfish with Mustard Sauce
Yield: serves 6
Ingredients: salt and freshly ground white pepper; 4 tablespoons water; 3 tablespoons dry tea (Oolong or a black variety such as Keemun); 2 tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice; 2-3 small monkfish tails (about 1½ lb total weight); 6 fl oz full-bodied dry white wine; handful broad beans – podded, then the individual beans poached, peeled of their grey jackets and kept warm; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 1 slice peeled onion; sprig fresh summer savory or thyme; 3 tablespoons white rice (any kind will do); 12 pieces potato – turned (cut into little barrel shapes), steamed and kept warm; 2 tablespoons sugar; 6 tiny sprigs fresh summer savory or thyme; needles of grapefruit zest – slivered off peel and blanched; 1 bay leaf; 3 eggs (size 2); 3 tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice; 1½ level teaspoons dry English mustard

Preparation info

serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Independent Cook

By Jeremy Round

Published 1988

About

A proper smoke-box is not necessary for small quantities of relatively delicate home-smoked food. The Chinese smoke duck like this, on a steamer-rack in a lidded wok over dry tea. The method is also good with large prawns.

This really is quite an exacting dish, but worth it.

Ingredients

fish

2-3 small monkfish tails (about 1½ lb total weight)
2 tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice

Sauce
Pescatarian
June

Method

Skin fish, removing all the gossamer membrane or this will contract in the smoking and distort the fish. Cut the fillets from each side of the central bones (keep these). Put the fish fillets on a plate, sprinkle with the grapefruit juice and lightly with salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

Line the bottom of a lidded wok with a double-thickness of foil. Put in the tea le