Monkfish with Ginger Sauce

This monkfish dish is restaurant-caliber cooking brought home. Lightly floured monkfish pieces bake in butter, then get draped in a silky cream sauce infused with fresh ginger, white wine, and homemade fish stock. The recipe even includes instructions for making the stock from scratch using fish bones, which takes the sauce to another level.

The sauce technique is classic French: reduce white wine and fish stock together until almost dry, then add heavy cream and cook gently until it thickens into a glossy, concentrated sauce. That reduction concentrates every flavor into a small amount of intensely savory liquid. The sliced ginger gets drained from its soaking water and stirred in at the end, adding a bright, warm bite that cuts through the richness of the cream.

Julienned vegetables (cucumber, onion, carrot, or celery) sauteed separately and added to the sauce give the dish color and fresh crunch against the firm, lobster-like texture of the monkfish.

Chef Tips

• Reduce the wine and stock aggressively. You want almost nothing left in the pan before adding cream. This is where the depth of flavor lives.
• Flour the monkfish lightly. A thin dusting creates a delicate crust during baking. Too much flour makes it gummy.
• Make the fish stock fresh if possible. It takes only a few minutes of simmering. Store-bought works in a pinch but lacks the gelatin body of homemade.
• Don’t boil the cream. Once it’s added, keep the heat low. High heat breaks the sauce and makes it grainy.

Variations

• Substitute halibut or cod if monkfish isn’t available. Both have firm enough flesh to hold up under the cream sauce.
• Lemongrass addition: Add a bruised lemongrass stalk to the stock for a more Southeast Asian-leaning ginger sauce.
• Serve over jasmine rice to soak up every drop of that ginger cream sauce.