Hake steak

cooked the Basque way

Method

• Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.
• Wash the parsley, dry it and then chop it.
• Peel the garlic cloves, remove the seeds, chop them well.
• Peel the asparagus and then tie them together with string so that they form a small bundle. Cook them in 3 liters of salt water, for 6 to 8 minutes depending on size, so that they are "al dente". Cool them immediately in iced water to stop the cooking process.
• Do the same for peas but shortening the cooking time to 3 or 4 minutes.
• Boil the eggs until just hard boiled, once cool peel them and cut them in half.
• Put a casserole dish on a high heat, pour in a little olive oil, the bay leaves and the flakes of Espelette pepper
• Season the hake steaks with salt on both sides and colour them on both sides in the casserole dish, once coloured remove the steaks from the pan.
• Add the garlic to the dish and sweat it without browning it, then add the chopped parsley and deglaze the pan with white wine.
• Pour the remaining olive oil into the pan and stir this vigorously to stop the liquids separating.
• Return the Hake to the pan along with the clams, asparagus and peas.
• Season with salt and Espelette pepper and cover.
• Place the dish into the oven and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the steaks.
• Remove the dish from the oven and add the egg halves before serving.

INGREDIENTS

• 8 hake steaks, approximately 150g each
• 150g of clams
• 500g of white asparagus
• 200g fresh peas
• 4 free range eggs
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 25cl dry white wine
• 10cl olive oil
• 5g of Espelette pepper flakes
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt
• Espelette pepper