Head Chef Chad Byrne brings you King Scallops with Monkfish ,Courgette and Lemon Thyme Sauce

Head Chef Chad Byrne brings you King Scallops with Monkfish ,Courgette and Lemon thyme Sauce

Serves 4

8 Large King Scallops

4 x Monkfish at approx 180g each

6 x Shallots

2 x cloves garlic

8 x caraway seeds

5 Podded cardamom seeds

2 x courgettes grated

500ml of fish stock

8 Sprigs of lemon thyme

8 very thinly Sliced pickled Beetroot

50g of Spinach Washed

1x lemon

80g of butter

150 ml of a good fruity olive oil

Sliced carrots for garnish

Sprigs of chervil

Remove the Roe from the scallops. (Here at The Brehon we would usually dry these out and grind them into a powder and add to celery salt this makes a great seasoning for fish.)

Ask your Fish monger to trim of any sinew from the monkfish, this is done for 2 purposes, if its not removed when frying your monkfish will curl and get tough .

To make the courgette sauce;  on a low heat gently cook shallots, lemon thyme, seeds and garlic in ½ the olive oil without colouring for 20 mins , add the fish stock and bring to the boil to this add the grated courgette and spinach, cook out for 2mins blend to a fine puree with 50g of butter and seasoning, your sauce should be velety and bright green. This sauce can easily be made in advance and kept for 2days

Season the monkfish and cook on a medium heat pan with olive oil.  Usually for a 180g fish I would cook one side until the fish has changed colour to opaque, then I would turn the fish and finish with butter, let the butter go brown to get a nutty flavour and finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon.  This process should not take longer than five minutes

Whilst doing this also start the Scallops in exactly the same manner in the same pan as the fish, just add them when the monkfish is about 2 minutes off.

Serve garnished with Slices of pickled beetroot, just folding of the scallops and russet carrots nicely put around the monkfish with chervil