Monkfish with cherry tomatoes and chilli served with carrot sformato

Ingredients

For the carrot sformato
400g/14oz carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
200ml/7fl oz milk
1 small onion, peeled and left whole
2 bay leaves
10 whole peppercorns
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
30g/1oz salted butter, plus an extra knob of butter
25g/¾oz plain flour (00 grade if available)
2 large free-range egg whites
50g/2oz parmesan, grated
For the monkfish
4 monkfish fillets, cut into 5cm/2in chunks
salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g/3½oz plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 large red chillies
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
100ml/3½fl oz dry white wine
100ml/3½fl oz good-quality fish stock
20 cherry tomatoes, halved

Method

1. For the carrot sformato, boil the carrots in a large pan of boiling salted water until tender. Drain well and transfer to a food processor. Blend the carrots well to make a purée.
2. Heat the milk in a pan with the onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and nutmeg. Bring to the boil. Turn off the heat immediately. Leave to infuse for ten minutes and strain through a sieve into a clean bowl. Preheat the oven to 200C/390F/Gas 6.
3. Heat the butter in another pan and tip in the flour. Stir to make a paste and cook for about two minutes.
4. Gradually add the infused milk to the pan, a ladle at a time, over a medium heat, whisking all the time to prevent lumps forming. The sauce should become thick and smooth.
5. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form when the whisk is lifted. Fold the egg whites into the white sauce, together with the carrot purée.
6. Pour into an ovenproof dish and bake in the oven for ten minutes.
7. After ten minutes, dot the top of the sformato with butter and scatter over the parmesan. Bake for a further ten minutes until the top is brown and crisp.
8. For the monkfish, season the fish fillets with salt and freshly ground pepper and coat lightly in flour. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan until hot and add the fish to the pan.
9. Cook the fish until it feels soft to touch and is golden in colour - this will take about 8-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. Carefully remove the fish from the pan and set aside in a warm place.
10. Add the chilli and garlic to the pan in which the fish was cooked and fry on a low heat for two minutes, or until the garlic is softened.
11. Add the wine and simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half. Add the fish stock and cherry tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes soften and the sauce thickens (about five minutes).
12. Serve one fillet of monkfish on each of four plates along with the carrots sfomato and the sauce.