Cornish Hake & Samphire

Cornish Hake with a white bean sauce, potatoes and samphire

Cornish hake in white bean sauce and a side of samphire

Hake is very popular in Spain and after watching an old episode of Rick Steins Spanish tours, I got an idea to adapt the recipe for our Cornish Hake – which is a fab meaty fish with a great light texture. You can find it at supermarket fish counters and they are best on the bone for better flavour.

I was excited to be able to serve this dish up with a side of samphire which is also known as sea asparagus. I've had it in restaurants before and it has a lovely crunch and is as salty as the sea, so you don't need any seasoning for it and it goes very well with all kinds of fish. It can be eaten raw or fried or sauteed with some garlic. I was really pleased to find this being sold at the local supermarket and jumped at the chance to include it to this meal. Nutritionally it aids digestion, it is a diuretic and contains minerals, iodine and vitamins A, C and D. However if you can't find samphire you could always substitute it with a side of good old English asparagus if it is in season or justsome trusty green beans.

Ingredients:

Hake steaks on the bone : ask the fishmonger to scale them. Score them on both sides when you get them home, ready for cooking

For the White bean sauce:

Olive oil [about 2 tablespoons]

1 large onion – peeled and sliced finely
Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning
2 cloves of garlic – peeled and sliced into rounds
½ a lemon for juice
2 or 3 anchovies – finely chopped [canned anchovies in olive oil]
Can of white beans – Cannellini/Butter beans: drained and washed in cold water
½ litre of hot chicken stock with a sprinkle of saffron threads in: make out of stock cube and boiling water or even better if you have some home made stuff

Garnish: chopped up parsley and grated lemon zest

Samphire – washed and drained

Boiled new potatoes – get these on the boil as you cook the fish

Get everything prepared and ready including the hot stock then start the on the sauce for the fish:

 

Cornish Hake scored on each side

 

Lemon, Garlic slices, chopped parsley, lemon zest and chopped up anchovies

Soften the onions in olive oil

 

1.       Fry the onions in a little olive oil [about 2 tablespoons]

2.       When they are soft add a pinch of sea salt and a pinch of freshly ground black pepper

3.       Add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes  

4.       Add the chopped up anchovies and turn the heat right down- allow them to melt away   

        gently into the onions

5.       Squeeze in some lemon juice

6.       Add the fish on the onions and chuck in the beans

7.       Top with the saffron and hot chicken stock so that the fish has enough liquid to poach in but

        don't drown them

8.       Simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on [you may have to adjust the time depending on the

        size of your steaks

9.       Then turn the fish over and sprinkle with parsley and lemon zest

10.   Switch the cooker off and keep the fish covered for another 5 minutes before checking with

        a knife to see if it cooked through. If it isn’t then continue to cook for another 5min on low

        heat. It all depends on the thickness of your fish steaks. If it looks and feels cooked and

        opaque all the way to the bone then take off the heat and set aside. It’s better to slightly

        undercook the fish and allow it to continue gently poaching in its own hot liquid, off the

        heat.

11.   Now get a wok/frying pan really hot – pop in some olive oil and throw the samphire in

        quickly and turn over as fast as you can for just a minute or two and take off the heat

12.   Taste the fish for seasoning and adjust before serving up!