basque hake recipes, Spanish Hake Recipes, Crispy Hake with Roasted Peppers Basque Recipes, Recipes, Spanish Fish Recipes Crispy Hake with Roasted Peppers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw9OyYWs-Ao https://www.youtube.com/embed/dw9OyYWs-Ao?rel=0 5 1 5 0 https://www.bascofinefoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/crispy_hake_with_piquillo_peppers-e1505676037705-1.jpg

Crispy Hake with Roasted Peppers

4 people
Easy

Prep time
15 mins

Cook time
10 mins

Total time
25 mins

Javier De La Hormaza

Recipe provided by

Javier De La Hormaza

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Ingredients

800g fresh hake fillets, off the bone and skin off
4 red peppers, cut in half lengthways, seeds removed
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp caster sugar
For the tempura batter:
100g of plain flour and extra flour for dusting
1 egg
1 tsp of baking powder
½ tsp of salt
200ml ice cold sparkling water
Sunflower oil for deep frying

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Introduction

Fresh hake is a highly regarded fish in Basque cuisine, used in many classic Spanish dishes and a staple fish product for the region and Spain in general. You pay top dollars for fresh line caught Cantábrico hake, which is sadly a rare find these days. Top quality hake or merluza as it is known in Spanish, is a fleshy fish, very meaty with a slight pink colour to it. It cooks well in sauces but also works well fried, grilled or on the barbecue, especially if cooked on the bone. Merluza a la romana is a classic fish dish in Spain. A la romana means ‘roman style’ but in reality is the cooking method of dipping the hake in flour and egg before frying in oil until golden brown. It is almost the Spanish fish and chips version. I grew up on this dish, classically served with a green salad of lettuce, spring onion, olive oil and cider vinegar, it also works really well with sweet roasted red peppers. This recipe is a slight twist on the classic merluza a la romana by using a tempura batter mix which makes the fish incredibly crispy and light, the stewed red peppers add earthiness and sweetness to the dish. Perfect Friday dish, with a glass of fizzy txakoli. On egin!

Method

Pre-heat your oven grill.
Rub some olive oil on all the pepper halves and place under the grill until the skins are completely black all round, remove from the grill and cover with some aluminium foil and rest for 10 minutes. After this time, peel all the peppers and cut into long strips.
In a medium size frying pan, gently warm the olive oil and add the garlic slices, cook gently for 1 minute or until lightly brown. Remove from the oil, add the roasted peppers and slowly cook for five minutes. Sprinkle a pinch of sugar, season with sea salt and return the garlic, cook for a further 10 minutes on a low heat and set aside.
To make the tempura batter, mix in a bowl the plain flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Crack the egg into another bowl and beat it roughly. Add the cold water and mix both together. Pour 1/3 of the flour mix into the egg and water mixture and gently mix with a fork. Then add the additional 1/3 of the flour mix and finally add the last 1/3. Lumps in the flour are completely fine. Do not mix it too much as you will get a lot of gluten which makes it heavy and it will un-crispy the tempura batter.
Warm the sunflower oil in a large pan or deep fryer, while you wait for the oil to get hot, cut the fish into four portions and roll in plain flour with a pinch of salt.
Once the oil is hot, dip the fish in the batter and deep fry for 2 to 3 minutes each side or until golden brown. Drain onto some kitchen paper to remove the excess of oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
On a warm plate, spoon the warm roasted peppers, place a piece of the crispy hake on top and drizzle with some cooking juices leftover from the peppers. Serve with a green salad.