Monkfish Wellington

This is a super special one trust me!! Make this if you’re trying to impress someone. It’s much easier than it looks, just takes a bit of prep. But the result is mental.

Ingredients

2x 175g-260g Monkfish tail fillets (or 1x 400g-600g skinned tail if you’re going to fillet it yourself)

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

Dijon mustard

1 tbsp Butter

4 sage leaves, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1 anchovy fillet, chopped

500g spinach, washed

4 large slices of Parma ham

1 roll of puff pastry

2 egg yolks

Method

Step 1

Season the tail with salt and pepper 30 minutes before cooking. This helps season the fish, but also extracts moisture that will make the Wellington soggy.

Step 2

Heat a pan to medium-high heat. Fry off the tail in a tbsp olive oil until there’s a nice colour on each side (around 1 minute each side). Remove the tail and immediately brush a light layer of Dijon mustard over. Set aside.

Step 3

Re-using the same pan, melt the butter over a low-medium heat. Add the chopped sage, garlic, anchovy and nutmeg. Fry for 2 minutes, then bring up the heat and add the spinach.

Step 4

Heavily wilt the spinach and extract as much moisture as possible. Season with salt then set aside.

Step 5

Lay out a large strip of cling film. On top of the cling film, lay out the 4 slices of Parma ham, slightly overlapping one another. Season with pepper, then layer over the wilted spinach. Place the monkfish in the middle, then roll it up as tightly as possible. Wrap it in the cling film and tighten it up by twisting each end. Set in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Step 6

Lay out another strip of cling film. Place the pastry on top of the cling film, enough to cover all sides of your parma ham-monkfish sausage. Remove the parma ham-monkfish sausage from the cling film and place in the middle. Brush the pastry with some of the egg yolk and roll it up as tight as possible. Cut off any excess pastry. Wrap in the cling film and tighten. Place in the fridge for another 15 minutes.

Step 7

Heat the oven to 180C. Remove the Wellington from the cling film and give it a good egg wash. If you’re feeling super chef-y, use the rest of the pastry sheet to create a lattice pastry layer over the top. To create the lattice, make small incisions in overlapping rows across the pastry sheet and gently stretch to reveal the lattice pattern. Lay over the wellington and brush with the remaining egg wash. Season the top with flaky salt, then bake for 30-35 minutes or until lovely and golden brown. Leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Step 8

Using a very sharp knife, cut a thick wedge of Wellington and serve with either mash, roast new potatoes or even just a salad. Heaven.