(Recipe according to Fritz Schilling, formerly Schweizer Stuben, Wertheim/Main)
Per person 150 to 200 g triggered, skinned monkfish fillet; salt, pepper, 2 thyme sprigs, flour for dusting, olive oil for frying. For the sauce base (for 6 people): 80 ml fish stock, 80 ml best cold pressed olive oil, 1 splash of champagne vinegar, juice of one lemon, salt, black pepper, 1 tsp each coarse Dijon and Meaux mustard. Insert: 50 g each peeled cucumber; carrot, celery, leek, cauliflower florets.
Everything cut into cubes of 5 mm edge length, barely cooked in salted water and quenched cold. Further: 50 g peeled tomato cubes, 50 g chopped gherkin, 2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped; 1 tube of aeolian capers. As well as fresh tarragon, chives, parsley, chervil and dill, all roughly chopped, 2 tablespoons in total. As garnish: 2 crispy, thin slices of smoked bacon per person. Season the fish, dredge in flour and fry in the hot oil with the thyme on both sides. Heat the sauce base, add the vegetables, herbs, egg, mustard, oil, vinegar, lemon juice and capers. Mix carefully, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately with the fish. Garnish with the bacon and serve.
None of the ingredients is expensive, so their quality is all the more important. One or two of the things Schilling's original recipe calls for (champagne vinegar, mustard from Meaux and Dijon, Aeolian capers) can only be found in good specialty stores. Those who make do with substitutes should not be surprised if it doesn`t taste so great.
A terribly versatile fish: Monkfish
Even beyond the Rhine-Main area, up to a radius of 100 km around Frankfurt, noble restaurants can be supplied by the Griesheim company when it comes to fish and shellfish. Or the chefs come themselves. Private customers can also buy here, fish in particular, but also delicacies of many kinds, from vegetables and truffles to wine and spirits. Many people make use of this opportunity; even the current Federal Foreign Minister was seen here more often when he still had more free time at his disposal.
The range of fish is of such animating variety and is presented by department head Wilfried Nestle in such an eye-catching way that every amateur chef's blood pressure rises with desire. Everything that rivers, lakes and the oceans have to offer is present, even the fearsome Rascasse or scorpion fish, which is an indispensable part of the real Bouillabaisse. But it still looks cute compared to the monkfish, which, however, lie there headless; this even has to be, as market manager Frank Meister knows, because hygienic regulations demand it. There is another good reason for this: the sight of the whole fish could really disturb sensitive minds: Compared to the slender body huge, dominates the powerful, flattened head with its enormous, composed of strong teeth mouth, goggle eyes has the pitifully ugly fish on top of it. Its name See"teufel" is therefore understandable. But it is only called that in Germany, Austrians call it Anglerfish, the British Monkfish; in northern France it is called Lotte, in the south Baudroie; the Spaniards call it Rape, the Italians Coda di Rospo. And by this they mean the body of the fish, which is small in comparison to the head, because only the head is of interest in the kitchen. This is great, because the meat of the monkfish is very firm, does not fall apart when cooked and does not dry out easily. It is similar to that of the lobster, but not nearly as sensitive: the monkfish, which has almost no bones, only a backbone that is easy to remove, is ideal for everyday cooking, where one does not want to deal with products that are difficult to handle. Monkfish fillets have the firmness of lobster meat, but not its taste. So it should be paired with strong flavors. Still with Fritz Schilling I ate once in the "Schweizer Stuben" in Wertheim monkfish with sauce Gribiche. With the 2-star chef, this was not what one originally imagined it to be, a kind of mayonnaise with hard-boiled egg yolk, chopped egg, herbs and capers, but a wonderfully light, sour and fresh affair.
At Edelfisch monkfish costs about 18 per kilo, the market leader's fish (without head) weighed just under 1200 g and was thick enough for 4 people. If you heed Wilfried Nestle's advice and make sure that the skin of the monkfish is dark, but the meat is white and shiny, you will enjoy it.
Edelfisch
Lärchenstr. 101
65933 Frankfurt-Griesheim
Phone: 069 - 3803230
Fax: 38032333
Email: frischeparadies@okay.net
Opening hours: Mon-Wed 8am-6pm, Thu & Fri 8am-1pm, Sat 8am-4pm
from Waldemar Thomas