Simply fish: monkfish in a saffron broth

Ciao, ragazzi.  Annalena is coming to you early this morning, because last night was a late night, with the Guyman's rehearsal.  So, while very few of you are up to making fish at 8 in the morning, put this away until later, because - Annalena doesn't lie to you - this is one you should have:

Doesn't that look good?  This morning, we're making the stuff furthest away:  the fish.  Later, we'll make the potatoes (the classic Irish dish called colcannon).  You'll find making the fish easy, but you may have to shop for the ingredient that joins all the ingredients together:  saffron.

Annalena admits to a fascination, nay, an obsession with saffron.  She puzzles over who figured out that the stamens of crocuses worked as a flavoring agent?  Who developed the means for harvesting it?  And so on, and so forth. She feels there's a book out there, awaiting, but she will not attempt to write it.   You will need  "a pinch" of  it, so borrow some from someone else who has "saffron fever," and then either buy some, or do what Annalena does:  when people say "OMG it's your birthday, what should I get you?"  she asks for a gram of saffron.  A gram is only about 15-20.00 ("only" being a relative term), but after many birthdays, and many Christmases, Annalena has a small fortune in saffron, as you will see. 

You need to work with a VERY firm white fish for this recipe as well.  While Annalena disagrees with the author of her original recipe, who states that monkfish qualifies as "the most meat like of all fish," she does agree that the texture is the right one.  But if you do not find monkfish - which is very possible - then use something like halibut, or sablefish, or even cod, to do this.  Just make sure your pieces are thick, because braising fish will break down what little structure it has, and you will have flakes of fish with anything too thin, or not firm enough. 

Ok, so to begin.  You need 1-1.5 pounds of fish , a couple of carrots, a couple of shallots, a few sprigs of thyme, olive oil, white wine, and water. Use whatever wine you're going to drink.   And the saffron:  some define a "pinch" as 1/16 of a teaspoon.  Annalena just reaches into her jar and "pinches, so her pinch is probably between 1/8 and 1/4 of a teaspoon.  Clean your carrots if they  need it, and peel your shallots.  Slice the carrots into 1/2 inch rounds, and slice the shallots thinly.  Chop the thyme until you have a healthy teaspoon, and cut the monkfish into serving size pieces.  (The key reason for doing this, ragazzi, is so you can move them when they're cooked).  Annalena laid out her mise en place for you here:

You can see a half cup of white wine and a quarter cup of olive oil, the carrots, the shallots (barely), the thyme, and Annalena's jar of saffron, turned on the side, so you can see it a bit clearer than you might.   Let's now get to work. 

Sprinkle the fish pieces with salt and pepper AFTER you've patted them dry.  Put half of the oil (two tablespoons) into a nonstick pan , and heat it up.  Add the fish, and cook it for a couple of minutes on both sides. You'll get some color, but as you'll see, it ain't pretty:

Not looking so good, eh?  Well, wait.  Or  "ashbett" as Annalena's nana used to say. 

Now, add the rest of the oil.  And if you feel you need some more, go ahead.  Add the shallots and a touch of salt.  Cook them at medium low heat, so they don't burn.  Give it about 3 minutes.  Then add the carrots, and again, medium low, cooking, for about 4-5 minutes.

If you're looking for more precise measurements, you probably have about 1/4-1/3 of a cup of shallots, and a cup of carrots.    Take that wine, the thyme and the saffron, and add it into the vegetables, together with half a cup of water.  Turn your heat up, and let the liquid boil down by about a third.  It won't take long, and if you don't finish, don't worry. We're going to add a step that will take care of this.    

Put the fish back in the pan and again, heat at medium

The  next step  will shock some folks, but it's ok, because there's so much liquid around, your fish is not going to dry out.  You cover the pan, lower the heat and cook for FIFTEEN (yes, ragazzi, fifteen) minutes.   VERY low, and very slow.   When you're done,  you can serve the dish as it is, but Annalena suggests you do it one better. 

 CAREFULLY  move all of the solids  to a bowl or plate, and then raise the temperature high, to reduce the sauce to tablespoons.  Then, pour that over the fish and: 

That looks better, doesn't it?  If you had to, though, you could serve it without the reduction. All up to you.  

Give it a try, ragazzi.  Look at the ingredient list. You have all the stuff but the saffron, or you can get it, and it takes no more than about 30 minutes to make, start to finish.  You'll be glad to have this one in your repertoire.