Spanish Hake with Chorizo One Pot

There was me thinking that The Bloke was odd not liking fish with tomatoes.. and then I found out there are hundreds of people who agree. I find this odd as there are so many dishes that have the two ingredients together. But having asked around it seems there are a pocket of people who find that tomatoes make fish taste stronger and therefore don't like it. Over the years I have been working ways of getting The Bloke to eat fish and ensuring no tomatoes go near it!!

This Spanish one is a recipe that I created when I found that most shops sell pepper paste. In the past, a great thickener for sauces would be tomato paste - but this pepper paste worked the same and no tomatoes. Having a Spanish friend and neighbour helps for this recipe - certainly as she always very kindly brings me back some great chorizo when she visits her family. So this is a much loved recipe in this house - Hake with Chorizo.

Ingredients:

120g cooking chorizo, sliced 1cm
6 shallots, peeled and quartered
1 red pepper, cubed
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. paprika
salt & pepper

85ml white wine

300ml water

1 tbsp. pepper paste

200g baby potatoes, quartered

100g asparagus
4 hake steaks (or 1 large fillet cut into 4)
salt & pepper

Method:

Find a large pan with a lid and heat the oil. Cook the shallots for a couple of minutes and then add the chorizo. Cook until the red oil starts to run out of the chorizo (about 5 minutes) and then add the red pepper and garlic. Continue to cook over a medium heat for a further 8 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until the veg is soft and chorizo browning. Add the paprika, a little salt & pepper and stir well.

Add the wine, scraping any browning bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook on a high heat for a couple of minutes, until the wine has almost evaporated and then add the pepper paste and the water. Bring to the boil and add the potatoes. Pop a lid on the pan and turn the heat to a simmer and leave for about 20 minutes for the potatoes to cook and the sauce to thicken.

(If prepping early, you can turn the heat off at this stage and reheat later before adding the fish and asparagus, making a quick dinner if you have guests!)

Still on a low simmer, add the asparagus and hake skin side up, to the top of the sauce; don't stir in. Put the lid back on and let steam for 4 minutes. Lift the lid and carefully remove the skin off the hake, it should come away quite easily. Turn the fish over and put the lid back on to steam the other side for another 4 minutes.

Fill bowls with the fish and vegetables, with plenty of the rich flavourful sauce. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and serve with crusty buttered bread to dip in! Enjoy.



Note: You can also use tomato paste in this recipe as a thickener, but you can also just let the sauce cook with the lid off on a high heat, to thicken the sauce too.