You can barely tell the difference, except, Monkfish is a lot less expensive.
Like lobster, it is the tail of the Monkfish that is eaten, and the texture and flavor of the tail is very similar to lobster tail. But, do not look up the fish, it is downright scary!
It’s interesting that it is relatively common in the south versus the northern part of the US and Canada as Monkfish is a deep water North Atlantic fish and not common enough to appear on the fish counter in grocery stores. I did find it at a fine food grocer with an extensive fish counter but my grocer was happy to order it for me.
Of course, because I wanted to make it NOW, I ordered it and since 4 days had passed and I had not received a call, I bought some, and then received the call from my grocer.
So more than I needed, and in fact a 3 to 4 ounce piece is ample for one serving.
It’s like lobster, it is rich. And it, like lobster, takes on the flavor of it’s surroundings.
I had wanted to try this fish, and as everyone referred to it as the poor man’s lobster, I wanted to treat it like lobster. That meant a recipe with butter. In this case a brown butter, misso base with lemon and capers to take away some of the richness. It is lobster rich.
I did not even prepare a side dish for this dish and just served it with toasted baguette.
I don’t mind spending the time to look and find what I want and am quite happy to go out of my way, or more like, off my beaten path to get a specialty item. Nor do I mind trying different things. Monkfish fits into this category. I heard about it, I read about it, and it turned out to be delicious.
I would not hesitate to serve this dish to friends who enjoy lobster. It has the added bonus of standing up to being gently reheated, which is a must for entertaining.
I will make Monkfish Piccata again, in better times and for lobster lovers.
