This is the dish that we prepared with Chef Villard in Lyon during our short visit in September. We made the dish again for friends and fellow blogger Barb and Kevin (Profiteroles and Ponytails) I had to make modifications (shown in brackets) as I wasn’t able to source ingredients or these are our personal preferences. And I didn’t get a chance to snap a pic of our finished dish because the light was poor and I didn’t want to be ‘the blogger‘ (I get enough of the rolling eyes from JT). But I know I shall make this again and update this post with the new photo. Thanks for understanding.

Our main course: Monkfish wrapped in bacon with a green olive veal stock sauce, fingerling potatoes sautéed in EVOO and snap peas with arugula (rocket) pesto. It was DELICIOUS!
Halibut wrapped in Proscuitto with Kalamata Olives in a Brown Jus Reduction
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 600 g Monkfish (we used Halibut because that is all my fish monger had the day I needed it. Go figure, they had a run on monkfish!)
- 6 slices of prosciutto (Chef used smoked bacon, but we prefer the less fatty prosciutto)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 250 mL beef or veal stock (we used beef as I couldn’t get veal stock)
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 60 g Kalamata olives, rough dice (Chef used green olives, but we preferred the flavour of the black Kalamato)
- 15 g butter (Chef used 60 g which is about 4 tbsp)
- sea salt
- white pepper (we omitted the pepper)
Directions:
- Have your fish monger filet and skin your fish, wrap with prosciutto and secure with butcher string. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Sweat the shallot in 2 tbsp olive oil, then deglaze with the balsamic vinegar. Add the stock and allow to reduce about one third. Add the butter, and olives and stir well. Set aside.
- Pre heat the oven to 175° C or 350°F
- Brown the fish in an oven safe pan in olive oil and minced garlic for about 5 minutes (or until the prosciutto is crispy).
- Add the warm beef and olive jus to the fish and bake for 5-7 minutes in the pre heated oven.
- Serve the fish sliced into about 100-120 g per person with the brown jus and cooked olives with snap peas and arugula pesto and roast potatoes.
Notes:
Chef Villard suggested that if your fish has a thin tail, you should fold it back on itself so that the thickness is even and it cooks at the same rate.

This dish looks scrumptious, light and elegant. I often prepare monkfish in sauce, but never wrapped in smoked bacon or dried ham (sometimes, when I want to “slim down” a dish, but keep the smoky aroma, I use smoked pork loin; I don’t know if it’s available in Canada). It sounds like an excellent idea. (I think there is a small typo: these olives are called Kalamata, I buy them from time to time here).
Hi Sissi, yes, pork loin or tenderloin is available in Canada and we use it almost exclusively because it is much healthier than other cuts of pork. Thank you for noticing the typos, unfortunately the Mac learns spelling, so if you spell something wrong the first time, it will learn that spelling. I have corrected it.
What a treat. This looks just amazing.
Thanks Greg, it was very tasty, but then again, what isn’t very tasty with prosciutto?
I love olives. Interesting that beef/veal stock is used instead of fish. I guess it needed to be extra gutsy to balance the olives?
I found it interesting as well, Chef Villard even commented that the French often pair beef jus with fish but never the other way around. The flavours were wonderful.
Wow Eva, this is amazing! It brings together some of my very favourite foods: fish, proscuitto, and olives! (Admittedly, if I had to make a list of favourite foods it would be quite a long list…).
Thanks Amber, it really hit the spot for us too.