Hake Puttanesca

As part of the Fish is the dish campaign we have been sent lots of different species since October. Although we are avid seafood fans I’ve never had hake before. Hake is in season at the moment and is fish on the month over at Fish is the dish.

We decided to push the boundaries a little, at a recent conference I got a card with a picture of hake puttanesca and thought it looked fab, there was no recipe. Spaghetti puttanesca used to be one of our repertoire dishes some years ago and I forgotten about it, so adding hake cooked as I was taught at my cooking class with Allan Pickett, Head Chef at Plateau Restaurant it was looking like a winning combination.

Ingredients
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 small onion finely diced
1 red chilli finely chopped
1 can of chopped tomatoes
6 anchovy fillets (from a can)
1 tbsp of capers
Black olives
2 fillets of hake, skin on
Olive oil
Butter

Method
1. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, add garlic until starts to colour then add onion and cook until softened
2. Add red chilli and fry for 2 minutes the add chopped tomatoes, capers & olives. Continue to cook for 10 minutes until reduced down
3. Make spaghetti as per the packet instructions
4. Heat some oil & melt butter in a frying pan, when it is foaming & starting to go brown, it’s hot enough so put the hake in skin side down, hake is very meaty, so takes a while to cook, you will see the flesh turn from opaque to white as it cooks, when it starts to go white on the top. This took 10 mins, then turn it over & put flesh side down for 2 mins, but turn off heat so it’s not too hot
5. To serve place spaghetti on your plate the place the hake on top & spoon the puttanesca sauce over the top

Verdict: My husband said this delicious and was still raving about it this morning. So hake will be a firm favourite in this house & we’ll definitely make this dish again!

disclaimer: Delish Fish sent us the hake for this recipe as part of the Fish is the dish campaign. The recipe is my own and the views expressed are my own./em>