Hake Cooked in the Basque Style with Garlic and Romesco Sauce
In San Sebastian we enjoyed a simple preparation of hake split through the head and roasted over a fire. It was dressed with olive oil, vinegar and sliced dried peppers. It has encouraged us to use more vinegar in our cooking.
Ingredients
- 4 hake fillets, about 180/200g each, skin on Mixed ratings!
- half a dried nora/choricero chilli
- 100ml olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 20ml good-quality agrodolce vinegar
- 1 tsp chopped parsley
- For the Romesco sauce:
- 4 dried nora/choricero chillies
- 100g whole blanched almonds
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 6 roasted and peeled peppers
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- quarter tsp hot smoked paprika
- 25ml sherry vinegar
- 100ml olive oil
- salt
Preparation
-
01
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/Gas Mark 6
-
02
Soak the dried chillies for both the fish and the sauce in separate bowls for 10 minutes, then drain and deseed.
-
03
Begin by making the sauce Romesco. Place the almonds and the 4 soaked chillies in a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped.
-
04
Add the garlic, roasted peppers and spices and pulse again to combine.
-
05
Add the vinegar, most of the olive oil (reserve 1 tablespoon for later) and a pinch of salt, then pulse again to produce a thick sauce that is neither too chunky nor too smooth.
Cooking
-
01
Fry the hake fillets skin-side down in a large, ovenproof frying pan in the reserved 1 tablespoon olive oil until lightly golden.
-
02
Turn, then transfer the pan to the oven and roast the fish for about 5 minutes, or until just cooked through.
-
03
Meanwhile, finely slice the soaked dried chilli.
-
04
Heat the garlic, remaining olive oil, the sliced dried chilli and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Cook gently for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to distribute the garlic and chilli.
-
05
As soon as the edges of the garlic begin to turn golden take off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Add a splash of the agrodolce vinegar and the chopped parsley.
-
06
Remove the hake from the oven, put a fillet on each serving plate and peel away the skin. Spoon a little sauce over each piece of fish and serve with a spoonful of Romesco sauce.