Monkfish tail polenta & may vegetables, langoustine sauce

Valentin Ferte of the Bellus Fortis restaurant offers a light spring dish, monkfish tail, complemented by polenta and May vegetables, and finally a langoustine sauce.

Serves 6

Preparation time: 1 h

Cooking time: 1 h 40

1 monkfish tail, approx. 1.8 kg
12 langoustines
1 bunch white asparagus
1 bunch purple turnips
1 bunch new carrots
1 yellow onion
1 l raw milk
100 g grated PDO Parmesan cheese
250 g raw semi-salted butter
1 small jar raw cream
200 g polenta
4 cl cognac
8 cl olive oil
Non-iodized fine salt
Coarse non-iodized salt
Fleur de sel for dressing

1 - Ask the fishmonger to lift and trim the fillets, keeping the bones and trimmings for the sauce.

2 - Wash and peel the carrots and turnips, keeping the skins for the sauce (and the tops for a pesto). Peel and chop the onion.

3 - Make the stock: peel the langoustines and keep the tails for a starter or aperitif (with the pesto...). In a pot, sauté the onion in olive oil with the carrot and turnip skins, langoustine carcasses and monkfish trimmings. Flambé with cognac, then moisten with water and reduce for 35 min.

4 - Prepare the polenta: pour the polenta and 10 g fine salt into the boiling liter of raw milk, stir with a whisk over low heat until almost solid, then add a knob of butter and the Parmesan. Transfer to an ovenproof tray or silicone molds.

5 - Prepare the asparagus: peel the asparagus and plunge into boiling water (6 min for medium-sized asparagus), drain, then brown in butter in a frying pan.

6 - Cook the turnips for 8 min in boiling salted water and the carrots for 5 min in boiling salted water, reserving the cooking water.

7 - Strain the stock and reduce to concentrate the aromas (it should smell good all the way to your living room), add the raw cream and adjust the seasoning.

8 - Brown the monkfish fillets on all sides in butter, then finish cooking in a fan-assisted oven at 180°C (gas mark 6) for 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets.

9 - Heat the carrots and turnips in a pan with butter and a little of the carrot cooking water. Reheat the polenta and asparagus in the oven.

10 - To serve: place the monkfish on the plate, arrange the vegetables and polenta in a harmonious arrangement, add the sauce and fleur de sel and enjoy.

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