- 16 large garlic cloves (new season if possible), sliced
- 100g/3½oz unsalted butter
- 450g/1lb fennel bulb, thinly sliced
- 600ml/20fl oz fish stock
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 100g/3½oz semolina
- 15g/½oz sprigs wild fennel leaves
- 4 x 225g/8oz pieces prepared monkfish fillet
- 4 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- splash aniseed liqueur
- 20g/¾oz wild garlic leaves, sliced
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
- Cut 13 of the garlic cloves lengthways into long thin pieces. Melt half of the butter in a pan, add the garlic and sliced fennel and fry over a medium heat until lightly browned. Add half of the fish stock and salt and pepper, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the fennel is tender.
- Meanwhile slice the remaining three cloves of garlic and put into a food processor with the semolina and all but one sprig of fennel leaves. Blend until you have an aromatic pale-green powder.
- Coat the pieces of monkfish in the semolina mixture. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan, add a small knob of the butter and the monkfish pieces and fry over a moderate heat, turning now and then, until they are golden-brown all over. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook the monkfish for a further 10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven and lift the fillets onto a chopping board. Slice diagonally into thick slices, keeping each piece in shape. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.
- Finely chop the remaining wild fennel herb. Add it to the pan in which the monkfish was cooked along with the cooked fennel mixture, lemon juice, liqueur, and wild garlic.
- Simmer rapidly until slightly reduced in volume, then add the remaining butter and simmer until it has blended in to make a rich sauce. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Lift the fish onto four warmed plates and spoon some of the sauce around each piece.