Turmeric linguine with monkfish ragoût and bell peppers

I decided to give Augusto Gemelli a second change and chose this recipe from his The Italian cuisine of Augusto Gemelli book.

We did like this recipe albeit I did forget to add the turmeric to the pasta's cooking water. Why oh why do I not read recipes thoroughly before starting?

This recipe was the first time I cleaned a monkfish. Usually I chop it in pieces, skin and bones and all, and throw it in the pan. This time I cleaned it and chopped it into small pieces. It was easier than I thought!

Serves: 4 persons

Ingredients:

• 300g linguine
• pinch of turmeric
• 700g monkfish (460g after cleaned)
• 400g bell peppers (mixed colours), diced
• 200g leek, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed with a knife
• olive oil
• fresh thyme to taste
• salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Clean the monkfish (remove skin and bones) and cut it into small pieces.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. In a frying pan, fry the leeks and peppers in olive oil.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. In another frying pan, fry the monkfish with the garlic and olive oil and reserve the water that is released from the cooking of the monkfish. I got 200ml.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Discard the garlic. I actually ate it as I carried on cooking...
5. Add all the ingredients in one frying pan and add the water of the cooking of the fish and cook until all cooked. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Actually, the recipe called for using fish stock but gave no indication of how much. The recipe's photograph didn't actually look like that the dish had much sauce nor it was a thick sauce so I came up with the idea to use the water of the cooking of the fish instead of adding fish stock. It didn't need much more cooking as the frying had already cooked the vegetables and fish so I just let it cook for 3-5 min.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Cook the linguine in salty water with a pinch of turmeric until al dente. Yes, I forgot the turmeric!
7. Add the linguini to the fish mixture and let it coat with the sauce.
8. Serve immediately with fresh thyme. I used dry thyme but I can tell you the fresh would have been a lot better.