At a time in the not-too-distant past, some friends and I were looking for a place to for dinner before a gig, and found ourselves at Prawn on the Lawn, a fishmonger/tiny restaurant in Islington, north London.

All their seafood is sourced from Britain, and they use some of that delicious local production for a small menu of dishes in an even smaller space.

Our table was a barrel (literally), and we squished together, 3 of us, slurping oysters and sampling each others’ main dishes. PS: If you go, have the expensive but absolutely delicious soda bread and butter.

The monkfish and chorizo stew was the inspiration for this recipe, and I have come up with my own version based on what I remembered it tasting of and what I like to eat.

Don’t mind the low-light iPhone photo, but this was some good seafood

In the UK, monkfish are a sustainable species, though they were in trouble for a while. It’s been an interesting ride for the monkfish as a food source. It went from a “trash fish” to “poor man’s lobster” to a delicacy that needed to be protected, and now it’s a sustainable, meaty and generally easy to find fish.

PS: Did you know that monkfish is a type of angler? No wonder you never see a whole one at the fishmonger, they are pretty ugly fish.

This is what happens when you have the time and light to take a reasonable photo.

This stew is hearty and warming, but not so hearty that you can’t enjoy it in the spring… though if you’re enjoying a spring that’s more like summer, you might want to save this recipe for the inevitable cooler days.

Serves: 2 hearty portions/4 with a starter or bread
Cook time: 35 minutes, not including prep

On the Counter

350 g monkfish cut into chunks
50 g chorizo
1 (400 g/14.5 oz) canned tomatoes
600 mL vegetable or fish stock
50 g carrots, about 1 large carrot
1 yellow or orange pepper
1 medium onion
1 stalk of celery
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
fresh parsley, chopped for serving

What to Do

Dice up the vegetables into bite-sized pieces, and mince the garlic. If you’re not very fond of celery, chop it smaller. Also dice the chorizo into 1 cm (1/4 inch) pieces.

Meanwhile, turn the oven on to broil/grill and roast the pepper on each side for 1-2 minutes, until blackened. Once it’s ready, put it in a bowl and cover with a cloth until it’s cool enough to touch. Peel it, removed the seeds and chop it.

In soup pot or casserole pot, heat the oil over medium-low until it shimmers. Add in the celery, carrots and onion until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Push the vegetables to the side of the pan and add in the chorizo. Fry it, stirring, until it starts melting and browning, another 3-4 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes, breaking up the large pieces with a wooden spoon. Add in the roasted pepper, stock, paprika, red pepper flakes and salt. Stir. Simmer, covered, on low heat for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes are up, add the monkfish pieces and cover the pot again. Let it cook for another 15 minutes.

Sprinkle fresh parsley in each bowl and serve.

First thing’s first. Scallops. They’re tasty, they’re good for you (more than 80% protein, and packed with magnesium and potassium), and they are easy to overcook.

But they’re worth the effort to get right – and by running a few scallop tests, I intend to save you some trouble. (When you can get a good deal from a fishmonger on scallops – it’s worth testing … and eating your results.)

The quickest way to cook scallops, and the best for a risotto, is to sear them in some olive oil and butter. Before cooking them, make sure they’re dry, and then season each side with a sprinkle of salt and black pepper. Kosher salt or ground rock/sea salt are your best options, but using what you have has always seemed reasonable to me.

After that, the two most important things are heat and time. Make sure that your pan is smoking hot (literally!) and that you have a timer ready.

King scallops, or the big guys seen below, take 1:30 on each side to cook. Nothing crazy is going to happen if you go slightly over, but if you’re anything like me, it just takes one minor distraction to go from soft, buttery scallops to tough, disappointing scallops.

So that’s:

a. dry, seasoned scallops
b. smoking hot skillet with some butter and olive oil
c. a timer (1:30 on each side)

Personally, I like to eat the coral (the orange bit that’s attached) but if you don’t, or you’re not comfortable eating roe, then it’s really easy to remove before cooking. Just pull them off!

Make the scallops as your final step, even though I’ve gone and made everything confusing by talking about them first. But they’re much better hot and fresh out of the pan. Plus, the risotto is less likely to suffer from waiting 3 minutes than the scallops are waiting 30 minutes.

Serves: 2 [and easy to halve for 1]

On the Counter

for the risotto

1 medium onion, finely diced
200 g chestnut or portobello mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
25 g butter
1.25 L (5 cups) vegetable stock
120 ml (1/2 cup) white wine
200 g (1 cup) carnaroli or arborio rice
130 g (1 cup) peas, defrosted
50 g unsalted butter, cubed
50 g Parmesan cheese, grated
handful of fresh parsley, chopped

for the scallops

25 g butter, melted in a skillet
1 tbsp olive oil
6 large scallops, cleaned, seasoned and dried. (coral removed if desired)

What To Do

Bring the stock to the boil and set aside once it’s boiled.

Melt the 25 g of butter over medium heat until sizzling. Soften the onion in a skillet, for about 5 minutes, then mix in the mushrooms and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes. Add in garlic, stir and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the rice. Turn the heat up to medium high, and stir to coat the grains with butter.

Once the grains begin to turn translucent, add the wine. Stir until the wine is mostly gone. Add 1 ladle-full of stock, stir until nearly absorbed and add more stock. (You don’t have to stir constantly, just ensure the rice does not go dry.)

After 10 minutes, stir in the peas, test the rice for doneness, and add stock in smaller portions until the rice is as firm or soft as you like it to be.

As soon as the rice is ready and the stock level in the pan is low, take the risotto off the heat. Stir in the remaining butter and the parmesan cheese. Mix until well combined and creamy.

Set aside, covered (or serve immediately if not making scallops.)

Meanwhile, when the rice is very nearly done, heat the olive oil and 25 g of butter in a skillet until the butter has been sizzling for a few minutes.

Once the butter is hot enough, prepare a timer for 1 minute 30 seconds. Quickly put the scallops in and leave them unit the timer goes off.

Flip the scallops and cook for another 1 minute, 30 seconds.

Serve the scallops on top of the risotto and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.