My mind is always going. Thinking, racing and pondering.

And when it comes to food, I’m always making up new combinations with whatever items I have on hand. This approach provides a decent amount of recipes stockpiled in my arsenal.

Back in the day, I mean 2020BP aka Before Pandemic, when creating proposals for catering gigs I had an ample amount of food items from which to choose. With a good range from hot to cold, from meat to fish to vegetarian. Yet even with all those options, I found that each gig offered up opportunities to create new ones. Before the virus hit and shut down all catering work, I had a client who wanted to add a few more fish options to her menu. Since it was going to be a cocktail party with pass-around hors d'oeuvres, I needed to devise a small bite that I could easily execute as well as be easily consumed. I started experimenting with bite sized medallions of cod poached in coconut milk served on a spoon. It was quite tasty, fit all the prerequisites and was slated to part of the menu. However, I never did get to pull off that idea for the client as the party never took place.

Luckily with me, no idea is ever completely tossed aside. Most often, I just create new ideas but I do try to file through my mind catalog when faced with ‘what do I make with this?’ That’s exactly what happened when I had some leftover coconut milk and monk fish. Why not try that same codfish recipe using monk fish? I have poached monk fish before with great success so I felt confident that it would work out.

My hubby, JuanCarlos, wasn’t sure about the coconut milk. He skews more heavily on garlic, wine and butter sauces. But I just wasn’t feeling the butter.

I wanted to use shallots because I really like their subtle onion flavor and softer, more delicate texture, but lock down mode had made it difficult to procure certain items vs. others. There’s always an improvise, and this one came in the bigger sister of a shallot: deeper color, larger size and more intense sibling known as the red onion.

Poaching softens everything. Including my husband’s opinion. Instead of getting a hard sear on the protein, which is his preferred method, poaching gently cooks the protein and provides a luscious finish. There are times when you just need soft and comforting, and that’s just what this delivers, especially when served with rice. If you do want to add some crispy elements to this dish, you can fry up some of the shallots or onions or basil to finish the dish.

The aromatics: red onion, garlic and ginger.

White wine adds some acidity as well as a sweet component to then lightly braise the aromatics.

Cut the fish into medallions, a hefty inch thick.

Add the coconut milk and nestle the fish into the liquid.

Over a medium low heat, cover and gently cook until the fish is tender. Then add basil to finish.

Ingredients

⅔ cup shallot or red onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1 lb monk fish, cut to 1-½” thick slices

2 tbsp of olive oil

¼ cup sliced ginger

1 cup of dry white wine

¼ cup basil, chopped

1 cup of coconut milk

¼ cup of water

2 tbsp basil, chiffonade

Instructions

1. Sauté onions, garlic and ginger in oil over medium low heat to soften
2. Add white wine, and slowly let the alcohol burn off
3. Add the coconut milk and water, and place fish into liquid. Cover and cook over medium low heat.
4. After 10 minutes, turn fish pieces and add cut basil, cook for another 3-4 min.

Serve with rice:
Hopefully you remember when I shared some tips and tricks, with one of them making extra rice and freezing it. Well, here’s a perfect example of when previous work comes in handy. While you are prepping/cooking the monk, just pull out the bag of frozen rice and gently warm it on the stove top or if you have a microwave. Then spoon the poached monk fish and coconut milk sauce over top. Meal complete.

This dish is warm and comforting. The fish is tender swimming in a creamy sauce with only a slight hint of coconut. Besides the rice, I like serving it a side vegetable of bok choy or grilled asparagus.

Sure, there are certain aspects of catering I miss. Mostly, the creating of the menu and culling together foods that will work with the party’s theme, the client’s taste and guests. But, hey, that’s what I have all of you for; catering at home. So, all’s good.

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You know the old saying, “Soup Is Good Food”.
I couldn’t agree more. It’s soothing. It’s filling. It warms your belly, and your soul. It cuddles you from the inside out. For me, it really doesn’t matter what time of year it is, I tend to always enjoy a bowl of soup. Naturally, soup fulfills its goals most definitely during the fall and winter months.

Soups can run the gamut from super complicated and time consuming endeavors, all the way to ‘throw it all in a pot and cook’. From thin, clear broths to thick, chunky stew types. From vegetarian to hog filled meat pleasers. No matter what kind you are making, the key is flavor layering. Building up flavor profiles one by one gives depth and makes the soup richer.

Even though I featured this soup with a simple ‘how to’ in my recent blog post Monday Night Dinner, some of you asked for more specifics. So if you ask, I want to deliver. Whatever I can do to make cooking easier, and a pleasure for you. JuanCarlos was the one who made this soup for our guests that evening. I have made versions of this by adding spinach and scallions. You will see that the add on possibilities are vast. Savoy cabbage would be great, or a scoop of rice. But I like to enjoy it like this, clean and pure to let the broth sing and the fish shine.

So, here goes it. This recipe and the steps are so easy you won’t believe that it takes practically no time to cook. The determining factor is the kind of fish used and how they are cut. Shrimp, Calamari (Squid) and Monkfish all cook in the same time, and super fast. I mean, 5 minute FAST!

I would venture to say if you had all your ingredients out and ready to cut, you could make this soup in 20 minutes start to finish.

Get the timer ready!

Ingredients

3/4 lb Monkfish, cut into bite sized pieces
3/4 lb shrimp, cleaned/deveined, cut into bite sized pieces
2 calamari bodies, cleaned, cut into rings
1 c onion, diced
3-4 large garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 c parsley, chopped
2 qts broth (fish or vegetable)
1/4 t red pepper flakes (add more if you like more heat)
1.5 t salt
1/4 c Olive oil

Instructions

1.Cut the onions, garlic and parsley. Add the onions and garlic to a pot with oil, salt and red pepper flakes and
cook over a medium low heat, softly sautéing them. Then add the parsley, and cook slowly.

The aromatics. This is the beginning of flavor building.

Build up the flavors and let the onions and garlic flavor the oil.

Then add the parsley and let it do the same.

2. Meanwhile, clean and cut the fish into bite sized pieces.

Monkfish comes in a long strip. I cut in down the middle, then cut small 1” cubes.

For soups, I usually get a smaller shrimp and then still cut them in 1/3’s so they are small enough to fit on a spoon.

No one should have to take the time to clean squid. Buy it cleaned. Just make sure the inner cartilage is removed. Then slice ringlets.

All the fish is ready to go while the aromatics are cooking.

3. Once the aromatics have softened (you don’t want caramelization, just a translucent cook through), add the
beans and their liquid. Slowly warm through.

4. Add the broth. If you only have 1 quart of broth, do as I did and add quart of water. Just make sure that you
taste for seasoning since water isn’t seasoned where I come from. Bring to a boil.

5. Lower heat to a simmer and add all the fish pieces. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes until the fish is tender.
DO NOT cook longer or the fish will get overdone and rubbery.

Taste the calamari and make sure it’s cooked through. Also, taste for seasonings.

Look at how beautifully cooked and tender each piece of fish is. A bowl of Good Food.

All that is left is to serve it up immediately, garnish with more parsley and enjoy a warm bowl of clean broth with hearty protein. It will warm your soul, bring a smile to your face, and joy to your heart. Seriously, how much more can one ask from a soup?

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