Moroccan Monkfish and Chickpea Stew [#214]

The second Bill Granger recipe. A lovely, delicately-spiced Morrocan dish - chunks of monkfish gently cooked in a tomato and onion sauce rich with garlic, fresh ginger, turmeric, cumin and cinnamon, with a touch of cayenne to add an echo of heat in the background. Sweetened with honey and sprinkled with chopped coriander at the end, it ate very well with a new ingredient for me - giant couscous. This had a curious texture, a little like eating barley, and not really like standard couscous, but very pleasant all the same. This dish also had the advantage of being really quick - ready in under half-an-hour. You can find the recipe on the BBC website should you be interested. We drank a refreshing Italian Rose with this.

Grilled Monkfish with Rosemary, served with Garlic Mayo [#122]

It's been a busy and tiring week so far, with a funeral this afternoon, so we dropped off at Waitrose for a huge piece of monkfish tail on the way home, which would be quick and easy to cook. Cut into meaty chunks and marinated in chopped rosemary, anchovy, garlic and lemon, I was anticipating a speedy supper. About three hours and one bowl of garlic mayonnaise later, I was ready, finally, to cook the fish, even though my arm is ready to drop off! However, this recipe is worth it: lovely succulent fish and the most amazingly delicious mayo I have ever eaten! Accompanied by crisp sauteed potatoes that were dunked into the mayo, and finely shredded English runner beans - the first of the season - we dined like royalty - albeit very late! More mayo left over so we'll saute some more potatoes tomorrow and make a meal of dunking the crisp, salty wedges into the garlicky buttercup yellow lusciousness.

photos courtesy of thekitchensupperdiaries.blogspot.com/