Recipe: Oven-braised monkfish with seafood stuffing

My, but the Port Clyde fishermen's co-op has been hauling up a lot of monkfish this year!  Good stuff.

Yesterday's share was seven monkfish fillets, each about 6-8 oz.  Stuffed with a crab and shrimp mixture and braised in a white wine, mushroom and onion sauce, they turned out very flavorful and fork-tender.  And totally un-photogenic.  Garlic roasted potatoes, green beans and carrots from the CSA rounded out the meal.

Oven-braised monkfish with seafood stuffing

3 lbs. monkfish fillets
Two 4-4.25 oz cans crab and/or shrimp
1 egg
1/4 - 1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
Dash each cayenne, dill and thyme
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup white wine
Salt & pepper to taste
Additional chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Slit each monkfish fillet lengthwise, from the top, to create a pocket - don't cut all the way through.

Combine the shrimp and crab, egg, cayenne, dill, thyme and parsley; add just enough breadcrumbs to bind.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Divide the seafood mixture evenly among the fillets, stuffing the slit pocket.  Place the fillets in a lightly greased baking dish.

Preheat oven to 425.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the sliced onions and mushrooms and saute until tender.  Add the wine and allow it to cook down for a minute or two, then pour evenly over the fillets. 

Bake the fish, uncovered, for 20 minutes (longer if the fillets are particularly large).  Serve, garnished with additional fresh parsley.

Serves 6. 

Or three normal people and one teenaged boy.