Spanish style hake with lemon courgette & wholewheat cous cous
Although we eat a lot of veggies in our house, we do also eat fish about once a week. We have a great local fishmonger or we sometimes get organic deliveries from Able & Cole. I’ve also introduced some organic chicken back into my diet, which I probably eat once a week or every two. The idea is to eat meat that is as high quality as possible, but far less often (than I used to a year or so ago) and the same goes for the rest of the fam.
Anyway, back to tonight! This is a great mid-week dish as it’s super quick and easy to prepare, even quicker if you make the tomato sauce in advance (up to 3 days). Then you would only need to add the fish and pop in the oven for 15 minutes. Likewise, this would be a great meal to make for friends at the weekend as it’s very hands off, leaving you more time to drink and chat!
Ingredients
Serves 4
1 medium onion, small dice
1 red pepper, small dice
1 large garlic clove, chopped finely
1 tsp pimentón (paprika) or sweet smoked paprika
2 x 400g tins cherry tomatoes, or chopped plum
1 tsp sea salt
4 fillets of hake
1 courgette, 1 cm round slices
1 lemon, cut in wedges
A small handful of chopped parsley
200g wholewheat cous cous
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 fan / 200ºc.
Heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a wide shallow oven-proof saucepan. Add the onions, cook for 5 minutes, then add the red pepper, cooking for a further 10 minutes on low.
Next mix in the garlic and cook for a minute or so and then add the pimento and stir well.
Pour in the cherry tomatoes; rinse out the cans with an inch of water and add to the sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes and then stir in the sea salt.
Cook the basmati as per the packet instructions – usually 20-25 minutes simmering in boiling water.
Once the tomato sauce is cooked, place the hake into the tomato sauce, so it is half submerged and slide the pan into the oven for 15 minutes until the fish is just cooked through. You can also simmer on the hob if you don’t have an oven proof pan.
While the hake cooks, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium sized frying pan. Fry the courgette slices on a med-high heat for 3-4 minutes a side or until browned. Set aside on a warm plate and dress with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sea salt. Cover loosely with a piece of foil to keep warm.
As the courgette cooks put the cous cous in a small saucepan or heatproof bowl with a good pinch of salt, pour over 300ml boiling water. Cover and stand for 8-10 minutes until soft.
When the fish is ready, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with the remaining lemon wedges.