White flaky fish with a bit of spicy heat
Hake is a lovely fish to cook with, and most importantly, it's delicious. It is a soft, white flaky fish, with a mild, slightly sweet flavour. It also takes on other flavours beautifully, which makes it the perfect fish for this week’s recipe. Here, I have pan fried it with a little nduja to add some heat and served it on a bed of silky-smooth sweet potato puree, topped off with spicy chickpeas, and some buttery toasted flaked almonds.
Nduja is a beautiful spicy, spreadable salami sausage from Calabria in the south of Italy. It is a gorgeous ingredient, but if you cannot find any, you could swap it out for some finely chopped chorizo. I highly recommend the nduja though, it really is very special. I get mine in my local Supervalu store, so you should be able to find some locally easily enough. You only need a little for this dish, do not be tempted to add more as you do not want to overpower the hake.
When I was dreaming up this recipe, I imagined it finished with a scattering of pan-fried panko breadcrumbs, but when I went to make it, I didn't have any in my cupboard. I decided to use flaked almonds instead, thinking that I could try it with the breadcrumbs another time and then perfect the recipe. As it happened, the almonds were fabulous, and worked better than the breadcrumbs so they made the cut for the final recipe. They add both fabulous texture and flavour to the dish; buttery, toasted, sweet flakes of almond finished with a little sea salt and lemon.
Pan-fried hake with nduja
recipe by:Colm O'Gorman
Nduja is a beautiful spicy, spreadable salami sausage from Calabria in the south of Italy. It is a gorgeous ingredient, but if you cannot find any, you could swap it out for some finely chopped chorizo.
Preparation Time
15 minsIngredients
400g skinless hake fillets
25g nduja sausage
Spiced chickpeas:
1 shallot or half a small onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
400g tin of chickpeas
½ tsp smoked paprika
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
Sweet potato puree:
1kg sweet potatoes
40g Greek yoghurt
1 tsp flaky sea slat
A good grind of black pepper
Flaked almonds:
15g butter
50g flaked almonds
Splash of lemon juice
A little flaky sea salt
To serve:
Some fresh flat leaf parsley
Lemon wedges
Method
Wash the sweet potatoes and cut a slit about 2cm deep down the centre of each. Microwave on full power for at least 15 minutes or until the potatoes are very soft and cooked through. The time needed to cook the potatoes will vary depending upon their size, but 15 to 20 minutes will do it.
While the potatoes are baking, prepare the spicy chickpeas. Peel and finely chop the shallot and the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a pan over a high heat. Add the onion and garlic and reduce the heat to medium. Fry until the onion has softened, about two to three minutes. Drain the chickpeas and add them to the pan, along with the smoked paprika. Cook the chickpeas for about eight to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and then add the lemon juice, salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more seasoning if required. Remove from the heat and set aside for now.
Next, prepare the flaked almonds. Melt the butter in a small frying pan over a high heat. Once the butter starts to foam, add the flaked almonds and reduce the heat to medium/low. Fry the almonds, stirring them regularly, until they turn golden brown, about three to four minutes. When they get to that stage, turn off the heat and add the salt and the lemon juice. Stir a few times until the lemon juice has evaporated. Taste and add more salt if required. Set aside.
Make the sweet potato puree. Cut the baked sweet potatoes down the centre lengthways. Hold the hot potatoes with a clean tea towel and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh into the bowl of a food processor. Add the Greek yoghurt, half a teaspoon of flaky sea salt and a good grind of black pepper. Blitz on high speed until the puree is silky smooth, adding a little more yoghurt if required to get the right consistency. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.
Next, cook the hake. Warm a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Chop the nduja and add it to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and fry the nduja for a few minutes, stirring all the time, until it breaks down in the pan.
Add the fillets of hake to the pan. Using a fish slice, gently press down on each fillet to ensure it is flat and fry for two minutes. Turn the fish over and fry for another two to three minutes until it is perfectly cooked.
While the fish is cooking, warm up the other elements of the dish. You can warm the sweet potato puree by giving it two minutes in a microwave on full power. The chickpeas and almonds can be warmed up in their pans over a medium heat in just a few minutes.
Time now to plate up.
Divide the sweet potato across four warm dinner plates. Place it in the middle of the plates and add a serving of hake on top of the puree. Make sure to get any lovely crispy bits of the nduja out of the pan and add those on top of the fish. Next, divide the chickpeas across the plates, sprinkling those over the fish and the sweet potato. Finally, finish with a scatter of the toasted flaked almonds, a little roughly chopped flat leaf parsley and some lemon wedges.
Serve immediately.