Roast Monkfish with Muhammara Recipe for Summer
A roast monkfish with muhammara recipe for commercial kitchens — meaty fish on the bone, a smoky red pepper and walnut sauce, plated for 20 summer covers.
Roast Monkfish with Muhammara Recipe
By On The Pass Consultancy | Category: Weekly Recipe | Serves: 20 | Prep: 45 minutes | Cook: 20 minutes | Skill Level: Advanced | Keywords: roast monkfish with muhammara recipe, monkfish recipe UK, muhammara sauce, summer fish main, freekeh salad
Why This Dish — and Why Now
Monkfish is the one white fish that behaves like meat, and that's exactly why it earns a place on a summer menu. It roasts rather than flakes, it holds its shape on a hot plate, and it stands up to a sauce with real backbone in a way cod or haddock never could. Most kitchens still treat it as a winter fish, wrapped in pancetta and buried under cream. In June, I'd do the opposite — roast it clean on the bone and put something bright and smoky underneath.
That something is muhammara: a roasted red pepper and walnut sauce from the Levant, sharpened with pomegranate molasses and warmed with Aleppo pepper. It's having a moment on British menus, and unlike a lot of trend-led plates it has the depth to back the hype. Smoke, sweetness, acid and a little chilli, all in one spoonful — it carries the fish without drowning it. Set both over a freekeh salad full of the herbs and courgettes the season is throwing at us right now, and you've got a fish main that reads current, costs sensibly and runs hard at twenty covers. Here's how it goes together, and how to keep the monkfish off the overcooked, rubbery edge it's famous for.
Serves 20 | Prep: 45 minutes | Cook: 20 minutes
Ingredients
Monkfish
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Monkfish tail, on the bone, skinned and membrane removed | 8 kg (approx. 4 large tails) |
| Olive oil | 100 ml |
| Garlic, crushed | 4 cloves |
| Ground cumin | 1 tbsp |
| Lemon zest | from 2 lemons |
| Sea salt and black pepper | to season |
Muhammara (make the day before)
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Roasted red peppers, drained | 1.6 kg |
| Walnuts, toasted | 500 g |
| Coarse dried breadcrumbs | 200 g |
| Pomegranate molasses | 120 ml |
| Aleppo pepper (pul biber) | 3 tbsp |
| Ground cumin | 1 tbsp |
| Garlic | 4 cloves |
| Lemon juice | from 2 lemons |
| Extra virgin olive oil | 250 ml |
| Sea salt | to season |
Freekeh and summer herb salad
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Cracked freekeh | 1.2 kg (dry) |
| Courgettes, sliced on the angle (approx. 1 cm) | 2 kg |
| Spring onions, sliced | 2 bunches |
| Flat-leaf parsley, picked and torn | 1 large bunch |
| Mint, picked and torn | 1 large bunch |
| Dill, picked | 1 bunch |
| Lemon | 3 |
| Extra virgin olive oil | 150 ml |
| Sea salt and black pepper | to season |
To finish
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped | 150 g |
| Pomegranate seeds | 200 g |
| Extra virgin olive oil | to drizzle |
Method
Stage 1 — The day before
1. Make the muhammara. Toast the walnuts and cool them, then blend with the roasted peppers, breadcrumbs, pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper, cumin, garlic and lemon juice. Trickle in the olive oil with the motor running and stop while it still has texture — muhammara should be a coarse paste you can spoon and drag, not a smooth purée. Season hard and taste. It wants to be loud: smoky, sweet, sharp, then a slow chilli warmth. It'll mellow in the fridge overnight, so push the seasoning further than feels comfortable tonight.
2. Portion the monkfish. Trim each tail of its grey membrane completely — leave any on and it shrinks and tightens like an elastic band on the heat, buckling the fish. Cut the tails into 200 g portions on the bone. Cooking on the bone is the whole trick with monkfish: the bone slows the heat, keeps the flesh moist and gives you a margin for error you simply don't get with naked fillet.
Stage 2 — Day of service, prep
3. Cook the freekeh. Simmer in well-salted water for 18–20 minutes until tender with a little bite, then drain well and spread on a tray to steam-dry and cool. Dress it warm with a third of the lemon and oil so it drinks the dressing in — grain dressed cold sits dull and claggy.
4. Chargrill the courgettes. Oil and season the slices, then griddle in batches, 1–2 minutes a side, until well marked. The char drives off water and adds smoke, so the courgettes lift the salad rather than weeping into it. Set aside.
5. Marinate the fish. Mix the olive oil, garlic, cumin and lemon zest, coat the monkfish portions and hold covered in the fridge. An hour is plenty — any longer and the lemon zest's oils start to firm the surface.
Stage 3 — To order / service
6. Sear and roast. Get a heavy pan or plancha properly hot. Colour the monkfish on all sides, 3–4 minutes total, until deeply golden — colour is flavour here, and pale monkfish tastes of nothing. Transfer to a tray and finish in the combi at 200°C (fan 180°C) for 6–8 minutes, until the core reads 50–52°C.
7. Rest it. Pull the fish at 50–52°C and rest it for 3–4 minutes; it'll carry up to a perfect 55°C off the heat. Monkfish goes from succulent to bouncy and dry in the space of a degree or two, so the probe and the rest are not optional — they're the difference between a dish worth charging for and a chewy one.
Plating
8. Spoon a generous swipe of muhammara across the base of a warm plate and drag it with the back of the spoon. Toss the freekeh with the charred courgettes, spring onions, torn herbs and the rest of the lemon and oil, and pile it loose alongside. Carve each monkfish portion off the bone, lay it over the sauce, then scatter chopped walnuts and pomegranate seeds and finish with a thread of good oil. The plate should read deep red and green with the fish gold on top.
Chef's Notes
On the cut: Ask the fishmonger for monkfish tail on the bone, skinned, with the membrane off — and check it yourself, because it's the job most often left half-done. Buy whole tails and portion in-house if you can; it's cheaper than pre-cut and you control the size. Firm, bright, sweet-smelling flesh only — monkfish that smells of anything is past it.
On the muhammara: This is your make-ahead workhorse, and it earns its keep beyond this plate. It holds five days, it sauces grilled lamb, chicken or halloumi just as happily, and it turns a slow Tuesday's leftovers into a special. Use jarred roasted peppers without apology — at this volume, roasting your own is time you haven't got.
On running at volume: Front-load everything but the fish. Muhammara the day before, freekeh cooked and courgettes grilled in the morning, fish portioned and marinated by mid-afternoon. Come service the only live job is sear, roast, probe, rest and plate — and the probe is what keeps it calm when the tickets stack up.
On the GP: Monkfish is a premium fish and priced like one, so the discipline is in the trim and the yield. Buy on the bone, portion tight and the food cost lands where you want a headline fish to land. The muhammara and freekeh cost pennies a plate and do most of the visual work, which is what lets a smaller piece of fish still eat — and price — like a proper main.
Make-ahead summary:
- Muhammara → the day before (improves overnight, holds five days)
- Monkfish portioning → the day before or morning of
- Freekeh → morning of service, dressed warm
- Courgettes → morning of service, chargrilled
- Sear, roast, probe, rest and plate → to order
Last weeks Summer Recipe Hot Honey Harissa Chicken
For Menu development support, please feel free to contact us here
*Enjoyed this recipe? Subscribe below and get a new professional recipe delivered every Friday — built for commercial kitchens, written from more than 35 years on the pass.*
Member discussion