Monkfish with Parma Ham & Pea Purée

This is luxurious; monkfish (in the UK at least) is pretty expensive.  However, it's so meaty and rich that you only need quite a small portion.

It's absolutely delicious.  Here I've made the purée with a hand-held blender, but you could equally blitz all the ingredients in a food processor before transferring back to the pan to heat through.

New potatoes with a little butter would be perfect alongside this.

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Season the fish on both sides well with pepper only.
3. Wrap the fish fairly tightly with the parma ham.
4. Place fish on a non-stick baking tray and cook in the oven for 15 minutes, turning over half way through the cooking time.  Once done, leave for about a minute to rest before slicing.
5. In the meantime, make the pea purée - cook the peas in boiling water for a couple of minutes and drain.
6. Return the peas to the pan, along with the cream, stock and seasoning.
7. Blitz the mixture with a hand-held blender until smooth.
8. Put the purée on the centre of the plate.  Cut the monkfish into large nuggets and put on top.