Portuguese Monkfish Stew

This Portuguese Monkfish Stew takes me back to Portugal.

I sometimes forget I’ve been to Portugal. I went in 2006 for a week after law school was done for the year with H and V.  I think we picked it because we just wanted to go to the beach and, snobs that we are, why would we drive 2 hours to the Gulf Coast when we could fly to Portugal?

That type of thinking has got me a few full passports since then. 

Anyway, we went south to the Algarve region frankly knowing very little about any of it. We sat on the beach, ate amazing food, saw a bullfight and took a day trip to Lisbon when we’d had enough of the sand.

Frankly, one of my most relaxing vacations to date. You know, before I thought that traversing mountains was the way to unwind.

One of the things that I remember most from that trip was the food. It reminded a lot of Spanish food (not surprisingly) in that a lot of it was simple- but simple with amazingly fresh ingredients. The kind of food that was easy enough to throw together in twenty minutes on a weeknight but with enough wow factor to serve at any dinner party.

One such dish is this stew, of sorts. I was inspired to make this because I was at the store a few weeks ago and saw monkfish on sale. I NEVER see monkfish on sale, and so I seized my moment, grabbed a few filets and threw it in the freezer.

While we never see monkfish around these parts much at all, I swear I ate it almost every night that week in the Algarve – many times just as I’m cooking it today. We all had our things- I remember H couldn’t get enough of the grilled sardines.  If you’ve never had monkfish, its a quite hearty whitefish, texturally very close to lobster, as it were. If you can’t find it, you can create this dish with any white fish that suits your fancy. 

Served with rice, potatoes or in this case, crusty pan con tomate, it’s a tasty dish that will make the most of this season’s tomato bounty.

BTW- heading off on vacation today- follow along on the insta! #AmafeelingGood #BuddhaFamilyVacation