The Collector of Tales
The Quay
Hake with lemon & tomatoes
En papillot is a simple and highly effective way to cook fish and in this hake recipe brings out the true flavours of the food. This is a plain but very flavoursome dish that can be prepared and cooked in very little time.
Ingredients
2 x 250g pieces of hake loin.
4 slices from a lemon
4 thin slices from a block of unsalted butter
freshly ground pepper
150g fresh samphire (rinsed)
150g fresh cherry tomatoes
50g capers
Oil for frying the tomatoes
Method
Set the oven at 180C and bring up to temperature.
Place each hake loin onto its own piece of baking parchment, skin side down. Place the two slices of lemon on the fish and top each piece with a thin slice of butter. Season with freshly ground pepper.
Form the papillote pouches and place them on a baking tray. I used two enamel dishes that I was going to serve the fish on.
Place in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile halve the cherry tomatoes and season with pepper and set aside. (The capers will provide the salt)
Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch the samphire. Drain and set aside.
In a frying pan add a few drops of olive oil and heat. Add the cherry tomatoes and trin them cut side down. fry for a while and then flip over and add the capers. Stir together and continue to fry for a couple of minutes. Add a little liquid ( water of white wine) and continue to heat fro a while, if the pan is a little dry. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Bring out the fish and remove it from the pouch before placing it back in the centre of the cooking pan.
Add the samphire and the tomatoe mix and serve immediately .
Observations
You can of course use any fish. Cod and haddock would be good substitutes but they all have different texture.
I refrained from using garlic much as I love it because I didn't want to overpower the fish.