Our La Verde Olives work wonderfully with this hake recipe and are complimented perfectly by the rich basil and roasted garlic polenta.
Olives are the secret ingredient stirred into the creamy polenta before serving. They offer a grassy flavour and briny seasoning that enhances the simple fillet of fish for an authentic taste of the ocean. This recipe by James Strawbridge is inspired by the Italian Riviera where olive groves meet the Ligurian sea for a summer seafood dish.
Ingredients
2 fillets of MSC certified Cornish Hake
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of sea salt
100g butter
For the polenta:
150g polenta
100g La Verde olives
1 small bunch of basil
2 tsp of roasted garlic puree
500ml water
100ml milk
50g grated parmesan
Pinch of grated nutmeg
Method
Heat the milk and water in a saucepan and slowly whisk in your polenta over a medium heat. Stir well and cook for 15-20 mins.
Pan fry the hake by salting with sea salt and then placing it in an oiled pan skin side down. Cook for 4 mins until the skin is crispy and then turn over. Add half your butter and spoon the bubbling butter over the fish as you finish cooking it for the final couple of minutes.
To finish the polenta, blitz your olives into a coarse paste in a food processor with the basil, parmesan, roast garlic and remaining butter. Add this to the polenta as it starts to come away from the side of the pan.
Serve the olive and basil polenta with the hake fillet on top and some sprigs of baby basil. Finish with extra parmesan.