CHRIS RUNDLE

GONE ARE THE DAYS WHEN MONKFISH WAS SIMPLY CHOPPED UP AND SERVED AS SCAMPI, SAYS CHRIS RUNDLE

- 

AND to think, all we used to do was chop it up and call it scampi. I refer, of course, to monkfish. A creature of the sea which is now more highly valued than ever, partly because of its versatility, partly because of its texture.

For years monkfish was landed and delivered straight to the processors who would trim it and put it through a machine which stamped its edible parts into chunks. These were then floured, dipped into batter and deep-fried, emerging as ersatz prawns - and few people noticed the difference.