Tagine of monkfish, turnips, cherry tomatoes and black olives

• Ali

I love anything Moroccan but I sometimes find the dishes overly sweet when they contain lots of dried fruit. This is a subtle take on a traditiaon tagine but uses monkfish and turnip to create a really clean tatse and meal. We use this as part of our elimination diet when we are cutting out dairy, refined sugar, guten, caffeine and alcohol and reducing the amount of acidic foods, like white potates, that we eat. We love to serve it with herby couscous.  

Serves 4

Ingredients

• About 500g monkfish tail, cut into chunks
• 1 small turnip, cut into 2 cm chunks
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 12-16 cherry tomatoes
• 2 roasted red peppers (from a jar) cut into strips lengthways
• About 12 fleshy black olives
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges,to serve
• 125ml water
• 2 tbsp chermoula (from a jar) or make yourself (see below)

Chermoula

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1tsp sea salt flakes
• 1-2 tsp cumin seeds, crushed or ground
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
•  Small bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

 

Directions

1. If making the chermoula, Using a pestle and mortar pound the garlic with the salt to a smooth paste.Add the cumin, chilli, lemon juice and olive oil, stir in the coriander.
2. Put the fish into a shallow dish and rub it with most of the chermoula (reserve a little for cooking). Cover and leave in the fridge for 1-2 hours
3. Meanhile, bring a saucepan of water to the boil and drop in the chunks of turnip. Boil for about 7 minutes to soften them a little , then drain and refresh under cold running water. Cut in half and set aside
4. Put a tagine or heavy based pan on medium heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Stir in the garlic and, when it begins to colour, add the tomatoes to soften them.
5. Add the red peppers and the reserved chermoula, and season with salt and pepper. Tip the mixture on to a plate.
6. Arrange the turnip on the base of the tagine or heavy based pan and spoon half the tomato and pepper mixture over the turnips. Place the chunks of marinated fish on top and spoon the rest of the tomato and pepper mixture over the fish. Tuck the olives in and around the fish and drizzle the remaining tbsp of olive oil over the top
7. Pour in roughly 125ml of water and check the seasoning, cover with a lid and steam for 15-20 minutes over a low heat, until the fish is fully cooked. 
8. Serve with cauliflower couscous  or with corn couscous.