#Prepare The Monkfish#

lf necessary, skin the monkfish: using the filleting knife, cut and release the black skin, then pull it off.

Cut away the thin membrane that covers the fish, cutting close to the flesh with the filleting knife, and pulling the membrane away from the fish with your fingers. “The spine in monkfish has no lateral hones, so once the skin and covering thin white membrane have been removed, the fish can be filleted easily, to yield 2 thick boneless pieces of meat."

Cut along one side of the central backbone to remove 1 monkfish fillet. Repeat the process on the other side of the bone to remove the second fillet. Rinse the monkfish fillets with cold water and pat them dry with paper towels. "Keep knife blade close to backbone while cutting away whole fillet" "Fillets are easy to remove from central backbone" "Ease fillet away from bone with fingertips as you cut"

With the chef s knife, cut the bone in pieces and reserve the pieces for the fish stock. "Cut slices of uniform thickness"

Cut each fillet into 1 cm (1/2 inch) slices. Slightly flatten each slice with the side of the chef's knife. #Make The Stock; Prepare Sauce Ingredients# Peel and chop the onions. Put half of the chopped onions in a large saucepan and add the monkfish bones, wine, peppercorns, parsley, and water.

Bring the mixture slowly to a boil, then simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Strain the fish stock into the bowl and let cool. You should have about 500 ml (16 fl oz) of stock.

While the stock is cooling, peel and trim the carrot. Cut it lengthwise into quarters, then across into 1 cm 0/2 inch) pieces. Set the flat side of the chefs knife on top of each garlic clove and strike it with your fist. Discard the skin and finely chop the garlic.

Remove the cores from the tomatoes, then cut each tomato in half. Coarsely chop the halves. “You will not need to peel and deseed the tomatoes because the sauce will be sieved ”

Strip the tarragon leaves from the stalks and pile them on the chopping board. Coarsely chop the leaves and reserve for garnish. Set aside the stalks for the sauce. "Tear leaves gently from stalks to avoid bruising" "Sharp chefs knife makes chopping herbs easy" #Cook The Fish; Make The Sauce# Put the flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper. Lightly coat the monkfish slices with the seasoned flour, patting with your hands so the slices are evenly coated.

Heat the oil and one-quarter of the butter in the saute pan, add half of the fish slices and sauté, turning once, until brown on both sides, 2-3 minutes. Transfer the slices to a plate with the palette knife. Sauté the remaining monkfish slices and transfer to the plate.

Add the carrot, garlic, and the remaining onion to the saute pan and cook, stirring to mix in the browned flour from the bottom of the pan, until soft but not brown, 3-5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, white wine, Cognac, tarragon stalks, salt and pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper, if you like. Tie the bouquet garni to the pan handle. Pour in the stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until slightly thickened, 15-20 minutes. "Bouquet garni tied to handle of pan will be easy to remove before sauce is sieved"

Sieve the sauce into a large saucepan, pressing with the ladle to extract all the liquid from the ingredients. Boil until thickened and reduced, 5-10 minutes.

Whisk in the double cream and tomato purée until the sauce is an even colour. Taste the sauce for seasoning, adding a pinch of sugar if it is too acidic.

Add the monkfish slices to the sauce and simmer until just tender, 5-10 minutes. "Monkfish will absorb flavour from sauce"

Take the saucepan from the heat and add the remaining butter, in small pieces, shaking the saucepan so the butter melts and is mixed into the sauce. #TO SERVE#

Serve the monkfish, sprinkled with the reserved chopped tarragon, on warmed individual plates. Accompany with rice pilaf, if you like. "Monkfish slices are just tender to the bite"