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Fillet of Monkfish in Cornish Wine with Pickled Celeriac and Cucumber

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 29 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and seaweed work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 46 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Peel the celeriac, cut into thin matchsticks and blanch in a pan of boiling water for 2 minutes; drain. Thinly slice the cucumber, leaving the skin on.

  2. Warm the white wine with the saffron, a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of sea salt, pepper and one thinly sliced shallot. Simmer 2 minutes, pour over the celeriac and cucumber, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

  3. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and sweat one finely chopped shallot, one chopped garlic clove and one thyme sprig over low heat for 5 minutes without colouring.

  4. Add the first Cornish red wine and simmer 15 minutes until reduced by half. Add the second Cornish red wine, the veal or chicken stock, the parsley and bay leaf, and simmer 15 minutes until syrupy. Strain, then add the halved grapes.

  5. Warm the fish stock or water with the remaining shallot, the remaining garlic, the remaining thyme sprig and the sparkling white wine. Add the monkfish and poach gently 6 to 8 minutes until opaque and flaking, or 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part.

  6. Lift the monkfish out and keep warm. Reheat the sauce gently, whisk in the cold butter in cubes off the heat, then finish with the truffle oil or 1 tbsp butter. Season with salt and pepper.

  7. Pile the pickled celeriac and cucumber onto plates, top with the seaweed, place the monkfish alongside and spoon the sauce over. Serve immediately.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cucumber + seaweedtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together46 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. White wine + red winetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together96 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Lemon + saffrontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together538 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. White wine + grapetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together175 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Grape + red winetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, saffron, white wine, olive, cucumber, grape, red wine):

  1. Thymebetter flavor fit
  2. Rosemarybetter flavor fit
  3. Peppermintbetter flavor fit
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, saffron, white wine, olive, cucumber, grape, red wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).