Hake in Green Sauce (Merluza a la Koskera)
Tonight’s dinner dish is the delicious Merluza a la Koskera, better known as hake in green sauce. Originally from the Basque region of Spain, Koskera hake is one of those traditional and easy stewed dishes that never go out of style and that everyone loves. With a few quality ingredients and the fish sauce that brings the whole thing together, this recipe is a real treat for the palate!
Hake in Green Sauce (Merluza a la Koskera)
Merluza a la koskera is a very popular dish in Spain during Christmas time. Its delicate taste can be perfect to accompany other heavier dishes, and, as we all know, at Christmas, eating light is far from a widespread custom! The fish is cooked in slices in an earthenware casserole dish, alongside boiled egg, asparagus, and, clams in a green sauce which is made from garlic, parsley, olive oil, and salt. Peas are added to the same broth to give it its characteristic green color.
Ingredients
- 1 kg fresh hake (or loin), sliced
- 750 ml fish broth
- 320 gr white asparagus canned, drained
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 500 gr clams
- 150 gr peas fresh or frozen
- 2 chillies or cayennes
- 2 tablespoon fine corn flour Maizena type
- 1 lemon juiced
- olive oil extra virgin
- 1 bunch chives
- fresh parsley chopped
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Soak the clams for at least 1 hour in cold salted water, making sure the water covers them. Remove the grit they release and clean them well.
- Remove the asparagus from the can/jar and place it on a plate. Drizzle with some lemon juice and pinch of salt.
- Slice the garlic and fry it in a pan with 4-5 tablespoons of EVOO with the chillies until browned. Take out the garlic and chillies and reserve them aside in a separate dish.
- In the same pan add the chopped chives in the flavored oil and sauté lightly over low heat and add the corn flour. Stir continuously to keep the flour from burning.
- Stir in the parsley and then pour the hot fish broth, mixing until the flour mixture dissolves.
- Sprinkle the hake pieces with salt and pepper and place them in the green sauce along with the asparagus (you can add it in whole or cut in half if they're too large)
- Cover the pan and simmer everything over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Carefully turn the fish pieces on the other side and cook for another 3 minutes or so until well done.
- Add in the clams. You can also add in the peas at this point if they're fresh or frozen, but if they're canned it's best to add them near the end of the cooking time since they're already partially cooked.
- Cover the pan once more and simmer until the clams open. Shake the pan to cover the clams in sauce as well.
- Plate the dish and serve it hot garnished with the browned garlic and chopped parsley
Enjoy!
Notes
- This same recipe can be made with some substitutions, such as replacing a part of the fish broth (150-200 ml /5-7 fl oz) with white wine.
- You can also add some prawns or mussels to the stew, and replace the white asparagus with green, or leave them out all together.
- Sauté the garlic with some onion, and take out the part where you brown the garlic.
- To decorate, you can add some boiled eggs cut in half.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
