Monkfish, pancetta, and rosemary spiedini with lemon aïoli

With party season upon us, it's time to start planning how to impress your guests with your culinary expertise.

Try putting out these tasty fish parcels and watch the compliments roll in...

Monkfish, pancetta, and rosemary spiedini with lemon aïoli

Ingredients

Makes 20

350g (12oz) monkfish tail, boned and skinned
10 long slices thin pancetta
20 rosemary branches (10cm/4in)
1 tbsp olive oil

For the marinade
4 tbsp olive oil
Grated zest and juice of 1⁄2 lemon
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1⁄2 tsp salt and 1⁄2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Lemon aïoli to serve

Method

Cut the monkfish into 20 cubes (2.5cm/1in) and cut each slice of pancetta in half lengthways.

To make the rosemary spiedini, strip off the leaves from the rosemary branches, leaving just a few at the top. Reserve leaves. Sharpen the other end into a point with a sharp knife.

For the marinade, roughly chop 1 tbsp of reserved rosemary leaves. Combine the rosemary, oil, lemon, garlic, and salt and pepper in a bowl.

Add the monkfish and toss to coat fish well. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Wrap each piece of monkfish tightly with a strip of pancetta and thread 1 piece on to the pointed end of a rosemary skewer.

Heat a heavy saucepan with 1 tbsp oil and sear the spiedini for 1 minute on each side.

Serve warm with lemon aïoli.

Delicious!

Recipe taken from Canapés, by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Eric Treuille, published by DK, £14.99, dk.com