Posted on
by 
2 Comments This easy and delicious recipe for monkfish wrapped in pancetta is perfect as a festive dinner idea. It will work well for Christmas and if you want to try it with another fish I’ll give you suggestions below. The original recipe is by Jamie Oliver from his book Cook.
Monkfish wrapped in pancetta
The first time I made this dish I did use a monkfish fillet. But as we probably all know, the price of fish is insane at the moment and monkfish is definitely not the cheapest out there. If you do have the chance to get your hands on a monkfish tail, it is worth it. But for my second batch of this recipe I used sea bass. Works fine too!
Table of contents
As mentioned the original recipe is by Jamie Oliver and I pretty much followed his instructions on how to make this wrapped monkfish. I’ve served it with green asparagus and a lovely lemon mayonnaise. You can add some new potatoes to it as well. That will be delicious too.
How to make the monkfish in pancetta
Now in order to make the monkfish you can use pancetta or use streaky bacon. Whichever is more convenient or more cost efficient. You start by seasoning the fish with some lemon zest, sea salt and pepper. Make sure not to use too much salt. The salty pancetta will also give of salt to the monkfish.
You then take a chopping board, cover it with a piece of cling film and lay out the slices of pancetta so they overlap slightly. Now place the monkfish medallion in the middle of the pancetta and gently wrap it around the fish. Use the cling film to make sure it sits tightly around the fish. Place in the fridge until ready to use.
For preparing the fish you take a frying pan and place on high heat. Add some olive oil and turn back to medium heat. Now remove the cling film from the fish. If it is still not tightly wrapped you can use a small skewer to secure the pancetta around the fish.
Place monkfish in the hot pan and bake golden brown on all sides. If the fish fillet is thick, it is easiest to finish in the oven.
Serve the monkfish wrapped in pancetta with cooked green asparagus and the lemon mayonnaise.
Different fish to use
Now as I mentioned monkfish is a pretty expensive fish. The meaty texture of this particular fish is totally delicious but you can also replace it with various other kinds of fishes. Cod will be a good substitute, sea bass or another firm white fish. How long you have to cook your fish depends on size of the fillet, type of fish and wether you’re using a skillet or the oven.
What to serve with the monkfish
This monkfish recipe is delicious served with green asparagus, but any other roasted vegetable will also work well. I like it with my favorite recipe for baked potatoes or crispy french fries. You can also add some chopped onion while baking the fish. The lemon mayonnaise is easy and tastes great with the fish but you can also serve it with salsa verde for some color pop.
FAQ monkfish with pancetta
Yes you can. Any firm white fish will work here. Think of haddock, cod, whiting or hake to replace the monkfish.
Sure you can. The green asparagus worked really well but you can definitely use white asparagus or another kind of vegetable. Roasted vegetables would be nice here too.
Absolutely. I like to use Hellmann mayo as that is not too sweet. But use whichever you prefer.
Fan of fish?
Check out these fish recipes as well:
Monkfish wrapped in pancetta by Jamie Oliver
Ingredients
- 4 fish fillets 2,5 cm thick each around 200 gr each. without skin and bones. I used monk fish
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary only the leaves, finely chopped
- 2 lemons zest
- black pepper
- 16 slices pancetta or bacon
- 4 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 kg green asparagus
How to make the monk fish wrapped in pancetta
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees ˚C. Sprinkle your fish fillets with the lemon zest (make sure not to grate the white part), rosemary and fresh pepper. No salt is needed because they are going to be wrapped in delicious salty pancetta. Put the slices of pancetta on a chopping board and flatten them extra with the side of knife. Put four slices together on the board, put a fish fillet on top and roll the package until it is wrapped around the fish.
- Heat a large, ovenproof frying pan, put a little oil in and add the pieces of fish with the good side up. Fry them for about a minute and after that put the pan in the oven, for about 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the filet, until the pancetta is crispy and nice golden brown.
- While the fish is in the oven you have time to make the lemon mayonnaise with either fresh mayonnaise or mayonnaise from a jar. Add enough lemon juice as the intention is for the mayonnaise to be a little bit too sour. In combination with the fish and asparagus that will be less. It's ok if the mayonnaise is a little thinner than usual.
- Cook or steam the asparagus and serve them with the fish and the lemon mayonnaise.
Notes
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
Hmmm, I have to admit that I’ve never cooked monkfish at home – and I might not have even tried it out at a restaurant either. With that said, I’d love to try this recipe – pancetta makes everything better and that sauce sounds super easy and super tasty!!
Thanks so much David. Yes monkfish is an interesting fish. Quite scary too if you see the whole thing. Haha. I think I tasted it the first time at a cooking class. I might not have tried it myself otherwise! But worth making for sure!