Whole Baked Hake

Hake is without doubt one of my favourite fish to eat. Inexplicably not as popular here in the UK as salmon or cod or haddock.  I think it is a stunning fish which delivers in texture, flavour and ease of preparing. It is also relatively inexpensive and also is easy to portion without any pesky bones.

Ingredients:

• 1 x hake cut in half (ask the butcher to separate the saddle from the tail end)
• 1 x lemon cut into 2cm slices
• 1 x bulb garlic cut lengthways
• 50ml white wine
• A generous drizzle of extra virgin oil and more later to serve
• 1 x bunch fresh parsley finely chopped
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Once you have tried this recipe, by all means experiment with other herbs and flavourings to create your perfect baked hake dish!

Created by chef Dhruv Baker

Method:

Create a double layer piece of foil large enough to loosely wrap the fish and then line that with baking parchment.

Lay the fish on the parchment covered foil side by side with the lemon slices and bulb of garlic between the 2 pieces.

Fold up the edges and pour in the wine, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and then fold together the foil to give an airtight parcel which has air within (i.e. not tightly wrapped over the fish). This space allows steam to be created to cook the fish gently and uniformly.

I use 2 scoops of charcoal to get the Garden Party up to about 220°C but I light the fire in the far right of the unit.

Place on top of the grill directly over the coals on the right-hand side and cook with the lid down for 5-10 minutes.

Open the lid and move across to the left-hand side of the grill so it’s no longer directly over the heat source and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Carefully open the top of the parcel to reveal the fish but still keeping all the juices safely in the parcel. Close the lid and cook for another 10 minutes to reduce the juices.

Using a heat probe, check the thickest part of the fish and you want to be at 65°C.

If you don’t have a meat probe, use a metal skewer and pierce the thickest part of the fish.  If it goes in without resistance, comes out clean and is hot when you touch the skewer to the back of your hand it’s ready.

Carefully lift the parcel off the Grill and serve from the foil, or using 2 spatulas lift onto a plate and pour over the cooking juices. Scatter over the parsley and lemon zest, check the seasoning and adjust to taste.

I served mine with charred asparagus and tenderstem broccoli lightly brushed with olive oil and then seasoned.