Rape a la Marinera: Monkfish with Matelot Sauce

[Alexandria Profile]

Going to be preparing a paternal family specialty for lunch today which hails from the shipboard sailors of yester year. The dish has two keys: the cooking time and the fact that the sauce is added in two parts.

Serves 4 ..

1 kilo of Monkfish sliced into chunks ( one needs a firm fish for this recipe and cod fish is a good substitute )
90 Ml. Bio Catalan Evoo or Spanish Evoo
150 grams of onion of choice minced or finely chopped
315 grams of red ripe fresh tomatoes or San Marzano ( peeled and finely diced )
1 tablespoon of fresh minced parsley
salt to taste
black freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of La Vera Pimentón Spanish Paprika
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of pine nuts ( 30 grams )
30 grams of fried day old Baguette or Cibatta Bread
125 ml. Fish Broth from fish stock or water
A shot glass of dry white wine

1) Wash the fish and allow to drain ..
2) Heat the Evoo in a heat proof earthenware casserole and sauté the onion .. I combine leeks and shallot .. When they begin to soften, add the tomatoes and sauté gently until you have a "thick" salsa .. Add the parsley and the paprika and stirring, remove from the heat ..
3) In a mortar with a pestle ( can use a stand up mixer however, I prefer my big mortar from Liguria ) and crush the garlic minced in tiny pieces with the pine nuts or almonds and the sautéed bread cubes ..
4) Combine the Mortar ingredients with the tomatoes and blend thoroughly with a stand up mixer ..
5) Now add the water or broth .. and then a shot glass of White wine of choice.
6) Take half the mixture and place in a shallow earthenware and lay the fish on top of this thick salsa ..
7) Cook covered over low heat for 20 minutes .. Now, Add a bit of extra broth or water if needed.
8) Check seasoning and cook uncovered for another 15 minutes.
9) Plate the salsa and dress the bed of salsa with the fish on top and some fresh minced parsley and fresh drizzle of lemon if you wish and any other herbs of choice ..
10) Serve with a dry white wine or Prosecco or Cava of choice ..

Have a lovely day ..

[Stokey Sue Profile]

In English we usually refer to Marinara rather than Matelot sauce

[Joanbunting Profile]

I'm sorry Member 461 but every time you mention minced parsley I get the giggles. I would call it chopped. I keep visualising my gran's Spong mincing machine clamped to the kitchen tablae and someone cranking the handle. It sounds like such hard work to make a little chopped herb!. Then I have a rather naughty sense of humour!

[Amyw Profile]

I know exactly what you mean Joan , even minced garlic makes me laugh . I’ve never heard of “matelot” before apart from in a naval seafaring way

Member 461 all I can say is your family must have an extremely precise way of writing recipes , to put down 315g tomatoes and 30g of bread . Or do you use a translation aid for your recipes when you post them here .

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Then I have a rather naughty sense of humour!

Beat you hands down Joan - when I see the word minced, I think of a very camp walk!!!

[Alexandria Profile]

A.W.


I never translate recipes as it is un-necessary.

And do mind your manners, no comments on families ..

Thank you for being politer ..

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,

Minced or to mince is finer and smaller than to chop or chopped !

Must be the International House Bostonian Business English Teacher who comes to our offices to provide classes ..

I do have a Cambridge Proficiency Certificate or license .. plus a Toeic Certificate ..

To mince in The U.K. is used for e.g. Mince Beef and I say ground beef ..

Witty .. Enjoyed visualising your Grandmother mincing parsely !!!!!

Have a great day !!!

[Amyw Profile]

A.W.


I never translate recipes as it is un-necessary.

And do mind your manners, no comments on families ..

Thank you for being politer ..

I wasn’t rude about your family at all Member 461 , just that their recipe writing is very precise , more so than we’re used to in this country when we pass on family recipes , so I just wondered whether maybe the measurements had come out so precise , because you’d used a translation aid , as I’d noticed that you write Mom instead of mum, which we see as an American description of mother .

[Alexandria Profile]

A.W.

As, I mentioned to Joan, even though I have a Cambridge Proficiency Certificate, I also have a Toeic Certificate and the Bostonian Business English Tefl Teacher who comes to our Offices, is from Boston. So, Mom .. is what she is called and my mom speaks Proficiency English too as well as my dad ..


My family dating back have been in the hospitality sector for many generations and so we are all quite precise and concise ..

Sue Stokey, had advised me over a year ago when I joined Sakarrin Food Board, to please not use just Cup measurements, and to use Grams etcetra ..


Have a nice day.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Minced or to mince is finer and smaller than to chop or chopped

Depends on your knife skills.

I am sure that now explains the terminology for you Joan...….

I have a Cambridge Proficiency Certificate

Would that be Cambridge Massachusetts.....?

[Alexandria Profile]

International House and Cambridge Exam Centre, Barcelona, Spain ..



I have never been to Cambridge, in the Usa ..

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,



" Marinara sauce " is a meatless Italian Tomato sauce ..

In Spanish, Marinera is Matelot ..

This sauce, Mantelot is prepared with pine nuts or almonds and bread in Cataluna with tomatoes, garlic, Pimentón etcetra as in recipe ..

[cherrytree Profile]

Minced is still an American term though.

[cherrytree Profile]

Talking of 'mom' though, Joan , did you use 'mam' like the people round here in N Cumbria do?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Sue,



" Marinara sauce " is a meatless Italian Tomato sauce ..

In Spanish, Marinera is Matelot ..

This sauce, Mantelot is prepared with pine nuts or almonds and bread in Cataluna with tomatoes, garlic, Pimentón etcetra as in recipe ..

However you spell it we would never call it matelot sauce
1. Matelot is a French word not an English one so why would you select Matelot when translating from Spanish to English? We would say sailor or seaman never, ever matelot. But we would probably not translate, any more than we translate tapas or paella

2. On the rare occasions when the word matelot is used in English it is usually jokingly in the mildly rude phrase Bonjour Matelot, suggesting that one of the people in the conversation is camp.

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,

In Catalan, Matelot is Marinero, and in English it is Sailor !


So, Sailor Sauce sounds quite odd .. Yes ?

In Spanish, it is actually Marinero and the adjective is Marinera ..

Catalan dishes that come from the northern Costa Brava frontiers, many times have adopted French terms ..

Marinara is an Italian tomato sauce ( meatless tomato sauce for pasta ) ..

You have the right idea, Paella is Paella .. And Pizza is Pizza and Sashimi is Sashimi ..


Have a nice day ..

[Pampy Profile]

So now you know, Sue!
Since when has 'sailor' been an adjective?

[Suffs Profile]

Reassuring to know that Sue has ‘the right idea’ about how to use English

[Stokey Sue Profile]

No Member 461

As I already said, Matelot sauce sounds even more ridiculous than sailor sauce in English, as matelot is not an English word. You cannot justify it as it is simply wrong.

As Pampy says we don’t use a noun like sailor as an adjective in English, so we would need to use the possessive - sailor’s sauce

But usually if writing a menu for example we wouldn’t translate the name of a dish, just use it in the original form with a few words of explanation if needed

Suffolk - I’ve just realised that I won a significant prize for writing almost exactly 50 years ago!

[Joanbunting Profile]

It is however extremely difficult to translate the name of a dish into a foreign language accurately but intellegably. You only have to look at some translations to English on foreign menus !
Believe me I've done it - for money, and still got it horribly wrong.

When I wrote recipes I used to use words like finely, or roughly when describing chopping things - if it was important to the recipe.

As long as you don't - like I did in my early French speaking days confuse Matelot (sailor of course), with matelas mattress and carefully explain to the man in the bed shop that I preferred a firm sailor on my bed.