**Culinary Symphony: Unveiling the Enchanting Hake with Clams in Salsa Verde and Its Accompaniments**
Prepare to embark on a culinary voyage with our tantalizing hake with clams, a harmonious blend of flavors that will delight your palate. This delectable dish features tender hake fillets and succulent clams, enveloped in a luscious salsa verde, a vibrant green sauce bursting with fresh herbs, capers, and anchovies. Served alongside is a medley of culinary delights: garlicky sautéed spinach, soft polenta imbued with the essence of Pecorino Romano cheese, and a refreshing fennel and radicchio salad, adding a symphony of textures and flavors to elevate the main course. Indulge in this gastronomic masterpiece, a true testament to the art of cooking.
SPANISH HAKE AND CLAMS IN SALSA VERDE
From Spainrecipes.com; this is a classic dish called Merluza y Almejas En Salsa Verde that my abuela used to prepare; a recipe that is one of the front-runners of traditional Basque cooking. Salsa verde appears in many dishes: with clams alone, with monkfish or fresh cod, or with a combination of clams and hake, as in this recipe. Hake, a noble and expensive fish when caught in Cantabria's local waters and in the Bay of Biscay, is also available in the United States at good fish markets, where it is sometimes imported from Chile. Basque hake is better if you can find it: the flesh is tighter and tastier, and the skin is darker and very shiny. Prep time includes the time to purge the clams of their sand.
Provided by Raquel Grinnell
Categories Spanish
Time 2h20m
Yield 4 main dishes, 4 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 15
Steps:
- Scrub the clams under cold running water, discarding any that fail to close to the touch. In a large bowl, combine the clams, coarse salt, and water to cover and let stand for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours so that the clams release any sand trapped in their shells. Drain.
- In a large saucepan, combine the clams with the 4 cups water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, or until they open. As the clams cook, uncover the pan occasionally and stir with a wooden spoon to encourage them all to open at about the same time. Drain the clams, reserving the cooking liquid. Discard any clams that have not opened.
- In a large cazuela, heat the olive oil over high heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, if using, and fry, stirring often, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the garlic begins to turn golden. Sprinkle the flour over the garlic and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well blended. Add 3 cups of the reserving cooking liquid and the salt, parsley and wine. Decrease the heat to medium and boil, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Add more cooking liquid if you prefer a thinner sauce. Rotate the cazuela in circular motions over the burner to mix all the ingredients, and boil gently for 2 minutes, or until the sauce is blended and looks whitish green.
- Sprinkle the hake pieces with the salt and place in a single layer in the sauce. Cook, turning once, for 2 minutes on each side, or until opaque at the center when tested with a knife tip. Add the clams and asparagus, shake the pan gently to prevent sticking, and simmer for 2 more minutes so heat all the ingredients through.
- Garnish with the egg wedges and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 459.1, Fat 22.6, SaturatedFat 3.6, Cholesterol 221.7, Sodium 2812.2, Carbohydrate 5, Fiber 0.5, Sugar 0.8, Protein 51.2
MERLUZA EN SALSA VERDE (HAKE IN A GREEN SAUCE)
Steps:
- Carefully clean, rinse and pat dry the hake. Sprinkle the fillets lightly with salt.
- Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy skillet. Add the garlic and cook until the garlic just begins to color, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over and mix thoroughly, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of water, the clam broth or juice, wine, parsley and salt to taste. Decrease the heat to medium and cook the sauce, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is slightly thick or just barely coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes. You can add more cold water to loosen up the sauce if necessary.
- Add the hake to the pan, skin-side up, in a single layer. Cook the hake fillets in the sauce for 2 minutes, swirling the pan constantly and sliding the pan on and off the fire until the hake fillets give off some of their gelatin and emulsify with the rest of the sauce. Flip the hake fillets once and cook until the fish is opaque but not overcooked, another 2 to 3 minutes on the other side. The sauce should be very light green and slightly thick but still loose and light. Serve immediately.;
HAKE WITH CLAMS IN SALSA VERDE
This Basque classic from Marti Buckley's cookbook "Basque Country: A Culinary Journey Through a Food Lover's Paradise," requires a bit of quick stove work once the clams start to open. You must be sure there is a nice amount of liquid in the bottom of the pan, enough to swirl around so the flour coating on the fish and the olive oil can thicken and emulsify the sauce. And though it's called salsa verde, it's not a dense herbal purée as in Italian cooking but a fresh, rather sheer parsley-based mixture.
Provided by Florence Fabricant
Categories dinner, seafood, main course
Time 1h
Yield 4 servings
Number Of Ingredients 9
Steps:
- Place clams in a bowl, cover with cold water and set aside. If using fish trimmings, rinse them with cold water, place in a 3-quart saucepan, add water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve and discard the solids. You should have at least 1 cup fish stock, preferably more. Set aside.
- Drain clams and scrub them. Rinse fish fillets and pat dry. Season with salt on the skinless side.
- Heat oil in a large sauté pan or stovetop casserole. Add garlic and cook on medium-high until garlic barely starts to color. Add flour and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add wine, cook 30 seconds and add fish stock. Lower heat and simmer about a minute.
- Add fish to the pan, skin side up. Simmer gently about 3 minutes. Turn fillets over, add clams, placing them around the fillets. Cook about 5 minutes, or until clams open. If the liquid appears to be drying up, add some additional fish stock or water. When the clams open, scatter parsley around the pan.
- Remove pan from heat and move it in a circular motion a minute or two to swirl the sauce so it begins to emulsify and look smooth. Add more salt if needed. Serve directly from the pan or divide among individual shallow soup bowls.
Tips:
- Mise en place: Prepare all of your ingredients before you start cooking. This will help you stay organized and avoid any scrambling.
- Use fresh, high-quality ingredients. This will make a big difference in the flavor of your dish.
- Don't overcook the hake. It is a delicate fish that can easily become dry and tough.
- Be careful when adding salt. Clams can be quite salty, so you may not need to add much additional salt.
- Serve the hake and clams with a side of crusty bread. This will help to soak up the delicious sauce.
Conclusion:
This hake with clams in salsa verde is a delicious and easy-to-make dish that is perfect for a weeknight meal. The combination of the delicate hake, briny clams, and flavorful salsa verde is sure to please everyone at the table. So next time you're looking for a quick and easy seafood dish, give this recipe a try!
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