epilogue

oh well...

it all tasted very nice today! the kids were so sweet - first, totally astonished when i told them their friends wouldn't be coming after all 'oh... really? and had they promised? (yes) oh........... that's naughty!' then, 'well, let's pretend we're the visitors!' and 'so is all that tarte tatin for us?' - my kids give me such a nice sense of perspective sometimes

i tried to find the monkfish recipe online & failed. and it's so nice & so easy to make - thought i'd reproduce it. it's from nigella's 'how to eat' and i've translated some of it in dutch, just in case... (and apologies - cannot get the 'jump break' to work despite having tried 10000 tips from 6000 troubleshoot sites - so it's here also for uninterested readers. but you shouldn't be uninterested - it's delicious! :-) )

Ask your fishmonger for 500g pieces of monkfish (zeeduivel) tail. You hardly do anything to them, and what you do, you do at the last minute – just before you sit down to the starter.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 / 190°C and, on the hob, sauté the fish a couple of minutes each side in about 3 tablespoons, more if you feel you need it, of butter and a drop or so of olive oil. If you’ve got any pan that you can use on the hob and in the oven and will fit all the fish, then use it. Otherwise use an ordinary or non-stick pan and transfer to an oven dish, making sure to pour the frying juices over before baking.

When you’ve fried your fish, sprinkle over some sea salt and a bit of lemon zest (citroenrasp), transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Arrange the cooked monkfish on a large plate, removing each fillet’s central bone as you do so. Put the baking tray with its lemony, salty juices on the hob for a moment, stir in some boiling water and grate over some pepper, and then dribble a mere tablespoon or so over the pale firm fish on the plate. But taste and adjust to suit, before doing anything. If you want to strew watercress or big and flat-leafed parsley (peterselie) around the edges of the dish, do.

eet smakelijk!