Hake with Provençal Sauce

This dish from Matthew Ryle calls to mind holidays in France, using vibrant, flavourful ingredients you’d find in a local market. It works equally well with other white fish or salmon…

Serves 2 | Prep time 10 minutes | Cooking time 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 x 220 g (8 oz) hake portions, cut through the bone

For the Provençal sauce

• 240 g (8 oz) tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
• 60 g (heaping ½ cup) shallots, finely chopped (about 2)
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and very finely sliced
• 10 g (about 4) good quality anchovy fillets
• 50 ml (3 tbsp) white wine
• 20 g (about 7) pitted black olives
• 20 g (2 tbsp) brined capers, rinsed 5 g (2 tsp) chopped parsley leaves
• Sea salt flakes and fresh-cracked black pepper

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) / 425°F /Gas 7. Put the chopped tomatoes on to a tray and season, then roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, take a small saucepan (preferably ovenproof) and place over a medium heat, add the olive oil and sweat the shallots for 3 minutes. Now add the garlic, chilli and anchovies and cook for another couple of minutes: you’ll see that the anchovy fillets will melt away. Then pour in the white wine and reduce by half. Finish with the olives, capers and the roasted tomatoes, then check and adjust the seasoning. Finish with the chopped parsley.
3. Reduce the oven temperature to 190°C (170°C fan)/375°F/Gas 5. I leave my hot sauce in its ovenproof pan, but if your pan isn’t ovenproof, pour it into an oven dish. Season your fish portions with salt and pepper and place on top of the hot provençal sauce. Cover with foil or a lid and place in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the fish is opaque and cooked through.
4. Leave the fish to rest for a couple of minutes before serving. All in all a very versatile sauce, which I cook a lot!

Note

Essentially a fancy tomato sauce, anchovies are the secret ingredient here. If you have a fussy eater around the table, don’t even mention the anchovies, as they’ll never know! When baking the fish, cover the dish with foil, to allow the steam to gently cook it, keeping it succulent, soft and completely tender. It’s a great cooking technique, with the bonus that it makes it very hard to overcook the fish.

Lead photo credit : Provencale_Sauce CR Patricia_Niven